Science policy this week: August 18, 2025

What’s Ahead

Students moving about on UCLA's campus. — UCLA’s campus.

Brian Sterling / CC BY-SA 2.0

UCLA grants restored, but future litigation faces obstacles

A federal judge has ordered the National Science Foundation to restore grants to UCLA for the second time this year. The judge ruled in June that NSF must restore grants to University of California institutions that were canceled “for researching blacklisted DEI topics” or “by form letter without any grant-specific explanation.” NSF restored those grants but then froze all its grants to UCLA in July, following the Justice Department’s finding that the university violated antidiscrimination statutes by “creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students.” The National Institutes of Health also froze nearly 500 grants to UCLA. The judge rejected NSF’s claim last week that the injunction did not apply to grant suspensions, only terminations.

Meanwhile, an appeals court ruled last week that under the Impoundment Control Act, only the Government Accountability Office can sue the administration over funding cuts, rather than people affected by the cuts. Multiple lawsuits from researchers and associations representing them, including the original lawsuit to restore federal grants to UC schools, have argued that grant terminations violate the ICA. Plaintiffs in the case said they would appeal. GAO is an advisory body for Congress and so far has not sued over the Trump administration’s funding cuts.

EPA soliciting comments on rollback of GHG endangerment finding

The Environmental Protection Agency is holding four virtual public hearings from Aug. 19-22 about its proposal to rescind its 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding. EPA announced two meetings originally, but added two more to accommodate the number of testifiers. The agency extended the comment period to Sept. 22. EPA is also considering repealing GHG emissions standards for light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles and engines. These proposals dovetail with a recent Department of Energy report that concluded the effects of GHG emissions are less damaging than is widely accepted. Steve Koonin, one of the report authors, told E&E News that the administration is discussing plans for further challenges to mainstream climate science, such as a public debate about climate science and a line-by-line rebuttal of the National Climate Assessment.

In response to the EPA proposal, the National Academies put out a request for information on the effects of GHG emissions on human health that will culminate in September with a report on the latest science related to the endangerment finding. The Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists are suing DOE and EPA, claiming the agencies violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act in the creation of the Climate Working Group that wrote the DOE report.

NSF and Nvidia to partner on scientific AI models

The National Science Foundation announced a partnership last week with technology company Nvidia to develop open-source AI models trained on scientific data and literature, as recommended in the administration’s AI Action Plan. “These tools will enable America’s researchers and developers to process and analyze research faster, generate code and visualizations, and connect new insights to past discoveries,” NSF’s press release states. The project, called the Open Multimodal AI Infrastructure to Accelerate Science (OMAI), is led by the Allen Institute for AI. NSF will contribute $75 million to the project through its mid-scale research infrastructure program, and Nvidia will contribute $77 million.

The press release says the program aims to increase researcher access to AI, given that “the cost of creating and researching powerful AI models has grown beyond the budgets of university labs and federally funded researchers.” The project will also include a workforce development program to build an AI-ready workforce and “expand participation and expertise beyond traditional tech hubs.” NSF also operates the National AI Research Resource, which similarly works to provide access to AI resources for researchers and educators. Brian Stone, the agency’s acting director, announced in July that NSF would soon unveil the next phase of NAIRR.

Also on our radar

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, acting administrator of NASA, said last week that he wants the agency to focus on human space exploration and reduce its Earth science research, particularly climate change studies. The comments come amid reports that NASA is planning to shut down certain climate-related missions early, including the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO). Duffy is also pushing for NASA to accelerate its plans to place a nuclear reactor on the Moon.
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Principal Deputy Director Lynne Parker announced her retirement last week. Parker was appointed in January.

The DOE Office of Science is funding a new Radioisotope Science Center (RSC) at the University of Missouri. The agency has promised $20 million for the project, alongside $20 million in funding from the state government.
China announced a new visa category last week that aims to make it easier for foreign STEM graduates to enter the country.