Trump vs. young scientists

NY Times -  For nearly a century, the United States has been the global leader in cultivating young scientists, training them at the nation’s vast network of universities and harnessing their talents to ensure American dominance in research and innovation. But now that Ph.D. pipeline is in turmoil.

An analysis by The New York Times of university and federal data found that the Trump administration, in its broader dismantling of the American scientific machinery, has undermined opportunities for young scientists.

Many of the nation’s top research universities, facing uncertainties in federal funding, are offering fewer Ph.D. spots across the sciences. Federal programs created long ago to finance doctoral students are mired in chaos. Widespread grant cancellations and funding delays have made it harder for recent graduates to find jobs and start new labs. Some institutions have managed to adapt by marshaling funds from elsewhere, but the sudden instability of federal support has led many others to scale back their Ph.D. programs.

…Interviews with dozens of early-career scientists — Ph.D. applicants, doctoral students and newly minted graduates — revealed deep concern that even two years of disruption could permanently alter the storied success of federally funded science in the United States.