29-05-2025
DOGE cuts to science will impact Ohio, students
The "Hands Off" protest April 5, 2025 at the Ohio Statehouse in downtown Columbus. (Photo by David DeWitt, Ohio Capital Journal.)
Earlier this month, over a thousand of the brightest young minds on our planet converged on Columbus, Ohio, for the International Science Fair.
It was a special moment for me because I competed at the event as a high school senior, and that experience played a role in launching my physics career. To give back in some way, I volunteered to be a judge.
Competitions like these are about the students. It prepares them to find their place in the vast and astoundingly successful landscape of American science, which is the envy of the world.
It's no coincidence that the international competition, which could be held anywhere on the planet, is held year after year in the United States.
It's also not a coincidence that it was held in Ohio. The organizers of the fair understood that Ohio is a scientific powerhouse, home to many thousands of scientists and engineers who meet the strict criteria to be judges.
For similar reasons, when I competed, the location was in silicon valley.
If you are one of the many scientists and engineers in Ohio, then you are probably aware that in mid-April DOGE arrived at science funding agencies like the National Science Foundation. You are also aware that it isn't just the DEI, education, or climate-related grants now getting the axe.
Science agencies face up to 55% cuts across the board, reductions of tens of billions of dollars. But even before Congress can vote on these cuts, DOGE is already in the process of laying off staff at the National Science Foundation, just like they did at USAID and the US Department of Education.
These staff have masters or in the fields of the grant programs being cut, precisely who you would want to oversee the investment of taxpayer dollars in scientific research.
All of this was on my mind as I interviewed students about their projects. I met students who had discovered new exoplanets using NASA data and artificial intelligence algorithms.
I talked to students who took over their parents' garage to test theories about light, fluids, or sound. As I interviewed these students, I wondered if they would get the same chances that I did to succeed.
When I was in college, I twice received National Science Foundation support to do summer astronomy research. Now, in summer 2025, the number of spots for federally funded undergrad research programs have been drastically reduced.
After college, I was fortunate to become a Ph.D. student at Ohio State. This year, anticipating the loss of federal dollars, Ohio State reduced their graduate admissions and some universities have even rescinded offers. If I were a student now, my career could easily be derailed by these roadblocks.
As a society, we have an obligation to give our kids the same opportunities to succeed that earlier generations had. Our students and postdocs should be on the ground floor of scientific discoveries with data from world-class instruments.
Instead, it seems, they will be on the ground floor of nothing, and unable to build the professional relationships that grow into a cutting-edge career.
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