To make America great again, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) aims to get by with less.
The agency responsible for promoting scientific progress in the US and nurturing national STEM talent has proposed a budget of $3.9 billion, 61.7 percent less than the $10.183 billion sought in FY 2025. Actual budget appropriations tend to differ from the sum requested.
Established in 1950 to advance science and national health, prosperity, welfare, and defense, the NSF carries out its mission mainly by making grants to American colleges and universities and by supporting academic researchers.
This is a budget of destruction of US science
“This is a budget of destruction of US science,” an NSF staffer told The Register. “Cuts of 65 percent to 75 in science, engineering and education will remove the United States from the world’s map of impact, will lead to irreversible damage to American creativity, and destroy our country’s GDP.” This person asked for anonymity for fear of getting fired for talking to the press.
An NSF spokesperson told The Register, “The President’s FY2026 Discretionary Budget Request of $3.9 billion for the US National Science Foundation (NSF) reflects a strategic alignment of resources in a constrained fiscal environment in which NSF prioritizes investments that can have the greatest national impact.”
According to the budget proposal [PDF], the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) is slated to get 67 percent less than its FY 2024 allocation. The Directorate for STEM Education (EDU) is set to get 75 percent less. And the Office of International Science and Engineering (OD/OISE) is budgeted at 80 percent less.
The estimated number of grant proposals is expected to decline from 36,700 in FY 2024 to 33,000 in FY 2026. And the number of proposals receiving grants is expected to drop even more precipitously, from 9,600 to 2,300.
Harvard University, which has opposed the Trump administration’s demands [PDF] to implement ideological changes, like eliminating support for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, has already seen 193 NSF grants worth about $150 million withdrawn.
The NSF budget reduction and related White House policies have coincided with efforts in Europe to woo spurned scientific talent through the Choose Europe initiative. The goal of the European program is to make Europe more globally competitive by funding research projects and attracting scientists. It’s a project likely to get the attention of US researchers who have seen their funding and welcome withdrawn.
The NSF’s diminished ambitions follow from revised priorities that aim to implement Trump administration policies to eliminate government programs and staff. The administration’s efforts however have been challenged in court.
The agency cut about 10 percent of its staff in February, but a judge halted that move days later. And reported plans to cut as many as 1,700 employees in early May also ran headlong into a temporary restraining order. ®
