Proposed science cuts coming into focus

The Trump administration has begun elaborating on its proposed budget for fiscal year 2026, publishing some agency-specific documents and a government-wide summary last Friday that expand on the “skinny budget” released in early May.

The National Science Foundation’s full budget request to Congress details how the proposed 57% topline cut would be distributed across the agency’s research programs and facilities. For instance, NSF proposes to operate only one of the two existing Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) sites and to cut support for the Large Hadron Collider to about 60% of the current level, reducing U.S. researchers’ participation in LHC research accordingly. NSF also indicates it will not advance the Thirty Meter Telescope project to the final design phase or supply any further funding. The agency does pledge to advance the Giant Magellan Telescope to the final design phase but does not commit to seek construction funding for the project. (The agency has been debating whether to support either project to completion.)

Despite suggested cuts to high-profile science facilities, the administration does propose to increase NSF’s major facility construction budget to $251 million, up from $234 million in fiscal year 2024. The lion’s share of this budget ($201 million) would go to the planned Leadership-Class Computing Facility led by the University of Texas at Austin.

AI and quantum information science are the only crosscutting research areas that are protected from major cuts in the budget proposal. NSF estimates the total number of competitive grant awards would plummet from around 9,600 to 2,300, and the proposal acceptance rate would drop from 26% to 7%.

NASA’s request proposes a 47% cut to science programs compared to fiscal year 2024 operating plan levels, including a 71% cut to biological and physical sciences and a 66% cut to astrophysics. The budget provides for a “leaner, more focused science program, eliminating over 40 lower-priority missions,” the document states. Among the proposed cancellations are the Mars Sample Return mission, Chandra X-ray telescope, various Earth observation satellites, and the HelioSwarm solar observation satellites. The administration also proposes to eliminate the STEM Engagement directorate.

Presidential budgets have historically served more as an indication of policy priorities than an exact blueprint for spending decisions, and Congress will advance its own spending proposals this summer. Any final discretionary spending legislation will need bipartisan support in the Senate to overcome the 60-vote threshold needed to advance bills in that chamber.

DOE begins terminating major clean energy projects

The Department of Energy terminated over $3.7 billion in clean energy grants last week that were awarded during the Biden administration. DOE did not release a list of the affected projects but said they primarily work on decarbonization or carbon capture and sequestration. The agency’s press release emphasized that 16 of the 24 awards were approved between Donald Trump’s election and his inauguration. DOE said the projects “failed to advance the energy needs of the American people, were not economically viable, and would not generate a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.” The terminations resulted from a DOE review of 179 awards that were “rushed out the door, particularly in the final days of the Biden administration,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said earlier in May. At an appropriations hearing for DOE, Wright said the Biden administration awarded $93 billion in the period after Trump’s election. Democratic appropriators have sharply criticized the decision to terminate projects already selected for funding.

State Department forges ahead with plans to dissolve science offices

A major reorganization of the State Department that would eliminate multiple science offices is moving forward, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio submitting a plan to Congress last week. Internal documents reviewed by FYI suggest affected units include the Office of Science and Technology Cooperation, the Office of Global Change, the Office of the Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary, and the Office of the Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology. Statutory functions of these units will be reassigned to other offices. Current and former State Department staff warned FYI last month that disruption to the work of the Office of Science and Technology Cooperation could have a significant negative impact on scientists, as the office oversees major scientific international collaboration agreements for research facilities such as CERN and ITER, among other functions.

The organizational chart proposed by Rubio retains the position of assistant secretary of oceans, environmental, and international scientific affairs. The chart also includes a new assistant secretary for “emerging threats.”

McNutt to deliver second ‘State of the Science’ speech

National Academy of Sciences President Maria McNutt will deliver the second annual State of the Science address on Tuesday. The address aims to evaluate the state of the U.S. research enterprise and strategies for adapting to a rapidly changing scientific community. A panel discussion following the speech will be moderated by Kelvin Droegemeier, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the first Trump administration. McNutt used last year’s address to argue the U.S. should respond to rising global competition in science and research by ensuring the country remains an attractive destination for foreign scientists and by increasing support for domestic STEM education.

Also on our radar

• President Donald Trump has withdrawn his nomination of Jared Isaacman to lead NASA, reportedly because of donations he made to Democrats. The Senate planned to take a final vote on Isaacman’s nomination this month.
• A group of 16 states sued the National Science Foundation last week over its indirect costs cap and the termination of DEI-related grants.
• Democrats on the House Science Committee have launched a call for information from researchers whose grants have been cancelled by the Trump administration.
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will testify before Senate and House appropriators on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. His department’s budget request includes steep cuts to NIST and NOAA.
• The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will meet Thursday to consider advancing the International Quantum Research Exchange Act and a bill that would extend the International Organizations Immunities Act to CERN.

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AIP has launched two email newsletters focused on the history of the physical sciences. A weekly edition features an article focusing on history and the work of the history community. For instance, the May 16 edition, “Oppenheimer–Condon–Peters: Conscience, coercion, and the Red Scare,” focused on tensions within the physics community during the anti-communist fervor of the post-World War II era. A monthly email provides updates on the work of AIP’s history research program and the AIP Niels Bohr Library and Archives. You can sign up for the emails here.

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All events are Eastern Time unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement. Events beyond this week are listed on our website.

Monday, June 2

American Meteorological Society: Science Policy Colloquium (continues through Friday)

SCSP: AI+ Expo (continues through Wednesday)

National Academies: Functions and Criteria for a New Center for Paleoenvironmental Records of Extreme Events Committee, meeting two (continues through Tuesday)

NIST: Lunar policy for a thriving lunar economy
2:00 - 3:30 pm

Tuesday, June 3

National Science Policy Network: Exploring diverse career paths in science policy (continues through Thursday)

USRA: Outer Planets Assessment Group meeting (continues through Thursday)

National Academies: Board on Science Education meeting (continues Wednesday)

Hudson Institute: Fair use or infringement: examining the copyright office’s report on generative AI training
8:00 - 9:00 am

CNAS: America’s edge: 2025 national security conference
9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Senate: Department of Education budget request hearing
10:00 am, Appropriations Committee

Columbia: The impact of the Trump administration’s nuclear executive orders
11:00 am - 12:00 pm

CSIS: Spotlighting the role of creativity and ownership in the US patent system
11:00 am - 12:00 pm

R&D Caucus: Not just universities: How NSF funding opens community college pathways to the future of work and the American dream
12:00 - 1:00 pm

National Academies: The state of the science address
3:00 - 5:00 pm

The Science Coalition: The science of economic growth
5:00 - 7:00 pm

Wednesday, June 4

National Academies: AI for sustainability: Maximizing benefits for the US
9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Senate: Commerce Department budget request hearing
10:00 am, Appropriations Committee

CSIS: America’s ‘Golden Dome’ explained
10:00 - 10:45 am

House: Examining the policies and priorities of the Department of Education
10:15 am, Education and Workforce Committee

Senate: NNSA budget request hearing
2:30 pm, Appropriations Committee

National Academy of Sciences: Physics-guided AI for accelerating scientific discovery
7:00 - 8:00 pm

Thursday, June 5

Council on Governmental Relations: June 2025 meeting (continues Friday)

National Academies: Evaluation of ARPA-E’s mission and goals, meeting six (continues Friday)

House: Pursuing the golden age of innovation: Strategic priorities in biotechnology
10:00 am, Science Committee

House: The federal government in the age of artificial intelligence
10:00 am, Oversight and Government Reform Committee

Commerce Department: Materials and Equipment Technical Advisory Committee meeting
10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Senate: Meeting to advance bills on quantum research and extending the International Organizations Immunities Act to CERN
10:30 am, Foreign Relations Committee

House: Commerce Department budget request hearing
11:00 am, Appropriations Committee

American Enterprise Institute: Emerging technologies and strategic competition: A conversation with Sen. Todd Young (R-IN)
2:30 - 3:30 pm

National Academies: Traumatic brain injury: Launching a new era of classification
4:00 - 6:30 pm

Union of Concerned Scientists: Protecting public science: How to defend scientific integrity in a new era of interference
7:00 - 8:00 pm

Friday, June 6

National Academies: Improving the regulatory efficiency and reducing administrative workload to strengthen competitiveness of US research
2:00 - 5:00 pm

Monday, June 9

American Astronomical Society: 246th meeting (continues through Thursday)

RAND: Deep seabed mining webinar
12:00 - 1:00 pm

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Deadlines indicated in parentheses. Newly added opportunities are marked with a diamond.

On April 15, the Trump administration extended the federal hiring freeze into the summer.

Job Openings

◆ControlAI: Policy advisor, AI safety and security (ongoing)
◆APS: Associate editor, quantum science and technologies (ongoing)
◆Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD): Legislative assistant, science policy (ongoing)
Zeiss Group: US representative for public and government affairs (ongoing)
OpenAI: Director of public sector partner management (ongoing)
Aerospace Industries Association: Technical policy director (ongoing)
RAND: Technical AI policy associate (ongoing)
AIAA: Aerospace America editor in chief (ongoing)
Columbus Technologies: Scientific program analyst, NIH (ongoing)
Simons Foundation: Program coordinator, science, society and culture (ongoing)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab: Associate deputy director for science and technology (ongoing)
UN: Office of Outer Space Affairs government relations officer (June 5)
ANS: Congressional science and engineering fellowship (June 6)

Solicitations

National Academies: Research regulatory efficiency consensus study survey (ongoing)
Grant Watch: Collection form for NSF grant cancellations (ongoing)
Grant Watch: Collection form for NIH grant cancellations (ongoing)
AAS: Grant cancellation survey (ongoing)
AAAS: Assessing the impacts of federal policies on the US STEMM community (ongoing)
APS: Survey collecting stories about the positive impact of federally funded research (ongoing)
◆National Academies: Workshop on quantum sensing to aid in countering unmanned aerial systems: Call for experts (June 9)
OPM: RFC on reclassification of policy employees (June 7)
State Department: RFC on J-1 visa waiver recommendation application (July 14)
◆DOE: RFC on rescinding regulations for loans for minority business enterprises seeking DOE contracts and assistance (June 16)

Know of an opportunity for scientists to engage in science policy? Email us at fyi@aip.org.

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News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.

White House

Wall Street Journal: The punch that launched Trump’s war on American universities
Wall Street Journal: Why does Trump keep saying Harvard teaches remedial math?
Science: What does Trump’s call for ‘gold standard science’ really mean?
Science: To boost nuclear power, Trump orders controversial rewrite of radiation safety rules
Fox News: Trump unleashes US nuclear renaissance with bold executive orders (perspective by Michael Kratsios)
White House: Made in the USA: President Trump’s vision is revitalizing American industry
Wired: DOGE is busier than ever — and Trump says Elon Musk is ‘really not leaving’

Congress

Roll Call: ‘Big, Beautiful’ bill heads to Senate
Politico: White House plans — at last — to send some DOGE cuts to Hill
E&E News: Congress set for clash over Trump spending cuts
AAS: Scientific societies issue letter to Congress regarding NSF reorganizations and cuts
University World News: Can Duke’s campus in China survive congressional pressure?
IEEE Spectrum: Record number of members visit Congress to talk tech policy

Science, Society, and the Economy

Science: Philanthropist gives $90 million to support theoretical physics research
Wall Street Journal: Targeting Chinese students threatens the bottom line at American universities
Foreign Affairs: Trump is killing American innovation: And China will reap the benefits (perspective by David Victor)
ChinaTalk: The Cold War history of export controls

Education and Workforce

Politico: Trump team pauses new student visa interviews as it weighs expanding social media vetting
Politico: On Chinese student visa rollback, MAGA scores another victory over tech
Politico: The Chinese student crackdown years in the making
New York Times: Experts who warn of risks posed by Chinese students are skeptical of Trump plan
New York Times: Why the US opened its doors to Chinese students, and why Trump is closing them
New York Times: The US deported this Chinese scientist, in a decision that changed world history (perspective by Kathleen Kingsbury)
New York Times: Judge finds government acted illegally in Russian scientist case
University World News: More Japanese universities set admission quotas for women in STEM

Research Management

Politico: RFK Jr. threatens to bar government scientists from publishing in leading medical journals
GAO: Monitoring of external NIH research can be improved (report)
Stat: A Harvard scientist built a database of 2,100 NIH grant terminations. Then his own funding was cut (interview with Scott Delaney)
Issues in Science and Technology: Let unfunded grant applications see the light of day (perspective by Stuart Buck and Christopher Steven Marcum)
NSF OIG: Evaluation of safety and health concerns in the US Antarctic Program (report)

Labs and Facilities

Science: China is quietly preparing to build a gigantic telescope
Lawrence Livermore National Lab: DOE Secretary Wright gets up-close look at innovation in action during LLNL visit
FedScoop: DOE announces another supercomputer: Doudna
Science|Business: CERN expands its collaboration on the Einstein Telescope

Computing and Communications

Wired: Trump’s crackdown on foreign student visas could derail critical AI research
NIST: How NIST helped start an industry: Our role in jump-starting quantum information science
Bloomberg: Nvidia faces bipartisan concern on China research facility plans
SpaceNews: New report details China’s push to dominate artificial intelligence
Brookings: The coming AI backlash will shape future regulation (perspective by Darrell West)

Space

SpacePolicyOnline: NASA copes with details of $6 billion budget cut, leadership uncertainty
NASA Watch: Michael Altenhofen is NASA deputy chief of staff
NASA Watch: ISS R&D Conference cancellation
New York Times: Sonic detectives want to help SpaceX listen up
SpaceNews: University of Colorado, Boulder to announce new space policy center

Weather, Climate, and Environment

CNN: Climate and weather scientists are joining the anti-Trump resistance in the most ‘scientist-iest’ way
Hechinger Report: So much for saving the planet. Climate careers, and many others, evaporate for class of 2025
MIT Technology Review: The Trump administration has shut down more than 100 climate studies
Research Professional: Norway to remove climate data from US servers over ‘concern’
E&E News: Chaos at FEMA, NOAA as hurricane season starts
Nature: The polar regions hold crucial scientific secrets — and the time to study them is running out (book review)

Energy

Politico: Musk, Tesla blast GOP plans to end clean energy tax credits in megabill
New York Times: US dependence on China for rare earth magnets is causing shortages
Financial Times: Drive to scrub carbon from air stalls as Donald Trump takes aim at renewables
ITIF: Addressing symptoms, not the system: Comments on the recent nuclear energy executive order

Defense

DefenseNews: Hegseth cuts Pentagon’s testing office in half, appoints new leader
DefenseNews: Behemoth Golden Dome may face lackluster scrutiny in Trump’s Pentagon
Union of Concerned Scientists: Plutonium pit production: The risks and costs of US plans to build new nuclear weapons (report)
Breaking Defense: US cuts to commercial space imagery could endanger ‘long term health’ of industry, say insiders
DefenseScoop: DOD guidance clamps down on procurement of non-commercial products

Biomedical

Politico: Trump’s NIH chief lets loose on Fauci, vaccines and COVID cover-ups (interview with Jay Bhattacharya)
The Guardian: Doctors fear ‘devastating consequences’ for pregnant people after RFK Jr order on COVID-19 boosters
Washington Post: It’s not hard to see through RFK Jr.’s ‘radical transparency’ pledge (perspective by Peter Lurie, et al.)
Stat: White House acknowledges problems in RFK Jr.’s MAHA report
FactCheck.org: RFK Jr. denies cuts to scientific research while slashing staff, funding
Stat: mRNA, once lauded as a scientific marvel, is now a government target

International Affairs

AP: China says US moves on computer chips and student visas ‘seriously violate’ tariffs truce
Nature: Hong Kong universities woo Harvard international students targeted by Trump
New York Times: World scientists look elsewhere as US labs stagger under Trump cuts
Nature: ‘A funeral for our careers’: Trump’s science cuts spill onto Canadian turf
FedScoop: A requiem for innovation: Bidding farewell to State’s Office of eDiplomacy (perspective by Eric Nelson)
Science|Business: Israel’s academy pleads with Europe not to cut ties. But critics say sanctions are needed to stop the country starving civilians
Science: New Zealand, betting on innovation and economic growth, cuts existing science funds
Research Professional: UK science policy has a new priority: national survival
Nature: ‘Scienticide’ in Argentina sparks huge protest by researchers