A coalition of 16 states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging that its abrupt cancellation of over 1,600 NSF grants violates federal law and undermines scientific integrity.

What’s at stake is more than just academic research. It is the foundation of our national research and development (R&D) ecosystem. The National Science Foundation (NSF) plays a critical role in supporting the country’s innovation infrastructure. It provides funding for education, builds partnerships, and strengthens the capacity needed to maintain American leadership in science and technology. Despite this, many of the grants that were canceled focused on STEM education, expanding access, and developing the future workforce.

This is not just a shift in agency priorities. It’s a deliberate dismantling of science education infrastructure, with immediate consequences for students, teachers, and researchers across the country.

If this administration is serious about preparing a globally competitive STEM workforce, it must invest in access and inclusion, not cancel the very programs designed to get us there.

I know what this kind of support can make possible. I began my research career through an NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), where I first learned to think expansively about what counts as STEM research. That opportunity wasn’t extra. It was critical. It led me to a graduate program in mathematics and launched the work I now do in undergraduate math education — research that centers student experience, interrogates systems of belonging, and examines how classrooms and institutional practices shape access to STEM.

I wouldn’t be where I am today without NSF funding. And I’m not alone.

The language of “realignment” masks a policy of exclusion

Officials claim the agency must no longer support work that “preferences some groups at the expense of others.” But that language distorts what the NSF has long stood for: expanding participation in science, especially among groups historically underrepresented in STEM fields. That mission is enshrined in statute and has guided NSF funding decisions for decades.

NSF investments have trained teachers in high-need districts, supported veterans in STEM, and created job opportunities in rural communities that often get overlooked. These grants don’t exclude anyone — they ensure that everyone has a chance to participate.

Now, that progress is being unraveled by political interference.

Staff have been told to pause all new NSF grant awards “until further notice.” Proposals that mention equity, disinformation, or climate justice are being flagged and rejected — regardless of their academic merit or real-world relevance. Even projects reviewed and approved by panels of subject-matter experts are being overturned by political appointees without relevant expertise.

This is not about accountability. It’s about austerity and control.

Let’s talk about the ripple effects. Cutting STEM education funding will:

• Shrink teacher pipelines in high-need areas
• Erode access to professional learning for science educators
• Disrupt community-based learning models that bring real science into schools
• Push students from underrepresented backgrounds out of science before they even begin

And it sends a chilling message to students like me: If your identity, your background, or your experience doesn’t fit a narrow definition of who belongs in science, you’re not welcome. These cuts don’t just eliminate funding — they erase pathways. They tell students from underrepresented communities that our presence in STEM is conditional, our success expendable, and our future negotiable.

The result? A weaker STEM workforce, fewer educational opportunities, and a retreat from the kind of evidence-based decision-making we need to solve today’s most urgent challenges. Don’t call this a course correction. It’s a rollback of public investment in the people and programs that make science matter.

This isn’t just shortsighted — it’s theft. The Trump administration is actively stripping public resources away from the students, educators, and institutions who need them most and redistributing opportunity along familiar lines of privilege and exclusion. It’s part of a larger pattern: slashing proven tools of upward mobility in favor of an ideology that treats equity as a threat.

If we are serious about preparing students for the jobs of the future, and if we believe STEM should be a pathway for all, not just a privileged few, then we cannot afford to stand by.

A strong R&D future does not begin in Washington’s boardrooms. It begins with students like me and millions more who are ready to lead if given the chance. Investing in STEM education and research is not just the right thing to do; it is a strategic imperative. Our economic growth, global competitiveness, and even our share of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) depend on a robust pipeline of skilled scientists, engineers, and innovators. When we invest in today’s students, we are investing in the future of the American economy.

Brianna Huynh is an EdTrust Higher Education Research & Data intern