STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
At a summit celebrating science and innovation, President Trump said he wants U.S. citizens to get PhDs in STEM fields. He's putting $100 million behind that effort.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We will always be on top. There's nobody that can compete with us. Nobody.
INSKEEP: Although the administration has also created a lot of uncertainty for PhDs and the research they do. NPR's Elissa Nadworny is covering this. Elissa, good morning.
ELISSA NADWORNY, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: OK. So what was this event about?
NADWORNY: The White House used the event to announce investments into U.S. innovation. It included federal dollars, like that $100 million program. But it also included private-sector investment for research in things like AI and tech. And that's a shift away from the federal government funding innovation and more toward private companies funding it. Trump said he was ushering in a golden age of science research. But, Steve, that idea really runs contrary to what academics and research scientists have seen these last two years.
INSKEEP: Yeah. OK. So STEM - I'm just trying to remember - science, technology, engineering, math. That's what we're talking...
NADWORNY: Correct.
INSKEEP: ...About here? Hopefully...
NADWORNY: Yeah.
INSKEEP: ...I've got it right. So how was the news received that the president makes this announcement?
NADWORNY: Look, researchers I've talked to have really painted a picture of chaos in the scientific research community. They've told me about federal research grants that were cut or stalled. We're talking labs being shut down, projects halted, researchers let go. In the last two years, the Trump administration has canceled or paused more than $11 billion in federal research money to universities. I talked with Noam Ross. He is a scientist who co-founded the Grant Witness project, which is an organization that tracks federal grant funding.
NOAM ROSS: I am always enthusiastic about more investment into science, but you could think of this as someone planting a tree somewhere where they just burned down a forest. We've lost so much scientific investment under this administration.
NADWORNY: He says that this relatively small new program is just a drop in the bucket, considering that the administration cut hundreds of millions of dollars in science education grants at places like the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. And this frustration really fits into this pervasive feeling that U.S. scientific research is falling behind countries like China. And a lot of people point to Trump administration cuts and immigration policy as the culprit.
INSKEEP: You'd better explain that. How...
NADWORNY: Yeah.
INSKEEP: ...Is research connected to immigration policy?
NADWORNY: Well, one of the things that historically has made the U.S. the top research destination is that the best talent from around the world - they want to train in the U.S. They want to work in U.S. labs and conduct research. But immigration policies have made that more difficult. There have been disruptions in getting student visas. The administration has tried to limit the amount of time a student can study here.
And just this week, the Department of Homeland Security proposed charging foreign students up to $100,000 for a popular postgraduate work visa. And that's had a concrete impact on college campuses. Enrollment for international students in U.S. grad programs is down. Many research institutions have shrunk or even closed PhD programs. And, you know, it's unclear what this $100 million fellowship is going to do.
INSKEEP: NPR's Elissa Nadworny. Thanks so much.
NADWORNY: You bet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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