Massachusetts leads the nation in lost NSF research funding

Boston Globe

22-05-2025

New England has lost about twice as much money to CDC and NIH cuts as it has to NSF cuts: about $560 million. The purge is a piece of the Trump administration's effort to extensively reshape how federal money for research, science, and health is used.
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The new data showing the NSF cuts' outsize toll in the state coincided with Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, both Democrats, sending a letter to Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy earlier this week, seeking an explanation for the 'ongoing chaos and upheaval' at the agency. The senators said the NSF cuts potentially violate court orders and endanger the country's scientific excellence.
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'Cutting the research we need to train scientists, build safer bridges, and advance innovation is foolish and shortsighted,' Warren said in a statement Monday. 'I want answers about why this is happening and what Trump's science advisor is going to do about it."
Kratsios and the White House did not respond to a request for comment. Kratsios described American research as stagnating and suggested private investment could play an even greater role in supporting science in
'To get more bang for America's research bucks, we need to enhance the creativity and precision of our funding,' he said.
Deep cuts in grant funding are part of a radical reorganization at the NSF. The publication
The NSF is reviewing its awards to eliminate funding for projects that don't match the Trump administration's
Last year, the
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All 10 of the largest National Science Foundation grants canceled in New England were in Massachusetts — about half tied to programs focused on diversity and equity.
The terminations, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said, are 'halting research and scientific breakthroughs, stifling job creation and economic growth, and hurting American competitiveness and leadership in technologies and innovation.'
Harvard University accounts for $195 million, or 78 percent of the state's canceled funding and 74 percent of New England's total. Beginning May 6, Harvard received letters from several government funding entities, including the NSF, stating that the $2.2 billion in grants
'It is insane, period,' said David Charbonneau, a Harvard astronomer and one of the world's leaders in the search for extrasolar planets, who lost a more than $537,000 grant. 'We are the envy of the world. Why we would cut the legs out from that system makes no sense.'
Alan Brown, a structural biologist whose $1.2 million NSF grant was terminated last week, came to Harvard eight years ago from Cambridge University. He described America as the best place in the world to do science. The Trump administration's approach to science funding has rattled that opinion.
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If he had to make a career move now, Brown said, 'I would not be looking to come to the US.'
Brown's work, a collaboration with Swiss scientists, focuses on a parasite that causes the sometimes fatal illness Leishmaniasis. Understanding how the parasite swims, and learning how to hobble it, could help prevent Leishmaniasis and provide insights into how similar mechanics play a role in other health problems, including male infertility.
The biggest loss outside Harvard was nearly $9 million to Northeastern University for its Engineering PLUS program, which aims to boost participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields.
'These students are future scientists and engineers who will go work in companies, start companies, and innovate,' said Matthew Lackner, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at UMass Amherst who lost a $3 million grant that supported 26 graduate students. 'We need all the engineers and scientists we can get.'
Lackner said the university is seeking emergency matching funds to cover the project this summer, but long-term support remains uncertain. It's not clear if all the grad students will be able to continue their education.
In their letter, Warren and Markey raised questions about the NSF's leadership structure and expressed alarm that the NSF has virtually frozen its grant award operation while subjecting previously approved grants to additional scrutiny. They sought details about how the NSF determined which grants failed to align with the Trump administration's priorities and whether its review of grants was guided by good science and rigorous peer review. The senators sought specifics, too, about how Trump's executive orders affected the nation's scientific research priorities.
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'We write to seek answers regarding why the Trump administration has led the agency into such disarray,' the letter stated.
Jason Laughlin can be reached at