On July 8, Democrats on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology hosted The Things We’ll Never Know: A Science Fair of Canceled Grants. The event featured more than twenty researchers – covering fields ranging from neuroscience and astrophysics to environmental health and STEM education – whose federally funded projects have been abruptly terminated.
Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) welcomed attendees, lamenting the political motives behind many of these terminations: “We are here today to learn about the things we will never know… Some of these cuts are solely because of petty fights with certain universities, some are because this administration is diversity, equity, and inclusion-phobic, some target politically inconvenient topics, and the list goes on.”
Many of the cancellations were not based on the research itself, but rather on the type of funding. For example, researchers supported by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) MOSAIC program, which helps NIH-awarded postdoctoral scholars from underrepresented backgrounds launch independent academic careers, were disproportionately affected. Despite the clear relevance of their work to public health, education, and national security, these grants were often labeled as “DEI research” and targeted for cancellation. As a result, many early-career scientists were forced to halt their research, and members of their labs lost their positions. These cuts not only disrupted vital scientific progress but also eliminated jobs and dealt a significant blow to the future of the research workforce.
The projects lost or stalled because of these terminations represent critical avenues of research. Beyond the direct impact on individual scientists’ careers, these cuts have ripple effects throughout the scientific ecosystem:
- Interrupting longitudinal studies and data collection efforts
- Halting the development of interventions for vulnerable populations
- Disrupting training pipelines for new scientists, including postdocs and graduate students
As one researcher noted at the event, it is not just about dollars; it is about knowledge that many will never generate. The event served as an awakening of how quickly political forces can reshape the research landscape.
Brain and behavioral scientists were among the projects highlighted:
- Language Development in Deaf Children: Dr. Naomi Caselli, Boston University, and Michelle Koplitz, University of Rochester, were forced to halt their longitudinal study on how language acquisition influences cognitive and social outcomes in deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Notably, the project was terminated at the start of its second year due to concerns over “amorphous equity objectives”—a reference to the hiring of deaf researchers, which is a necessary component of conducting research in this area.
- Neuroscience of Skilled Movement: At Harvard, PhD student Kelsey Tyssowski’s NIH-funded research on the neural basis of skilled movement in deer mice was canceled as part of sweeping terminations at the university. This research held potential translational implications for understanding movement disorders like Parkinson’s Disease and ALS.
- STEM Education and Underrepresented Populations: Dr. Joanne Marciano, Dr. Vaughn Watson, and Dr. Beth Harbel-Eisenmann – all from Michigan State University- were developing educational programming to help middle- and high-school students from marginalized communities learn data analysis. The cancellation of their NSF grant eliminated opportunities to study how diverse youth bring cognitive and sociocultural perspectives to quantitative reasoning.
