---
title: "Science policy of the second Trump administration"
chunk: 1/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_policy_of_the_second_Trump_administration"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:18:18.766303+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

During the second presidency of Donald Trump, the US government has seen broad funding freezes and cuts (or proposed cuts). Broad research areas targeted so far have included addiction, climate change, cancer research, vaccine hesitancy, HIV/AIDS research, COVID-19, mental health, and mRNA. The administration has notably paused research funding related to LGBTQ and other gender issues, diversity, equity, and inclusion, race and ethnicity, and other topics deemed "woke".
Some of the funding freezes have been used to apply pressure to universities on non-science related matters. For example the University of San Diego, a school that contains a massive research program for students. Due to the budget cuts from the Trump administration, the university experienced a decrease in funding.

== Early actions ==
Early Trump executive orders led to government organizations removing or modifying over 8,000 web pages and approximately 3,000 datasets, many of them science-related.
In addition, there were freezes in scientific funding and purges of data related to LGBTQ issues, gender, climate change, and racial diversity. There were also mass firings across federal scientific agencies.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) ceased paying out its grants to researchers leaving many without a salary. Grant review panels—in which scientists decide which research proposals will receive funding—were paused to review whether projects supported potentially banned activities such as increasing diversity among scientists, international collaborations, or research into environmentally-friendly technology. After a court order on February 2, the NSF funds were unfrozen, though the review panels were still paused. On February 4, 2025, the NSF announced that it would lay off 25% to 50% of its workforce. Ten percent of NSF staff (168 employees) were fired on February 18. The firings were aimed at probationary employees (those who had held their positions for less than a year), but some of the laid off employees included those with over a year of experience who were unknowingly reclassified in January by the Office of Personnel Management and others who were permanent staff. Sethuraman Panchanathan resigned as NSF director on April 24, 2025.