I have made it halfway through a PhD at Cornell to work on science that will support our community, but my friends and I are losing the chance to do this work because of the recent federal funding cuts. SOS!
My home is between Coyote Hills and Quarry Lakes and my love for these grasslands and marshes is why I have dedicated my career to the scientific research that can protect them. Because of my career choice, I have experienced the joy of being a part of a community of scientific researchers who work on what they believe in.
With wide-ranging interests, they protect against disease and boost the California economy by preventing fires and mitigating pollution. With the 2025 federal funding cuts to science, many of my friends have lost the chance to do this important work. Not to mention that now my own career and dreams are at great risk.
Every day in the lab is a blast for me because my research combines what I believe in with technical puzzles that allow me to play detective. I work on engineering agricultural plants to try and make our farms more efficient at using fertilizers. This can provide better food security and could boost California’s massive agricultural economy, but most importantly to me: It supports our native ecosystems!
In farming, roughly half of all fertilizers leach into aquatic ecosystems. They are the cause of toxic algal blooms that kill fish and marsh birds, and choke the plants which structure these ecosystems. In the last decade, the East Bay has started to see these blooms for the first time, and they are only projected to get worse.
I would like to dedicate my career towards improving fertilizer uptake by plants and fighting this problem at its source. But I’m nervous, because in 2026 almost two-thirds of the federal funding to the National Science Foundation (NSF) will be cut. This is the organization that funds the vast majority of my focus of research in the U.S.
Next year, much of our agricultural and medical research will be cut, and many of the hundreds of thousands of scientists working under federal grants will likely face unemployment. I believe that public awareness and engagement in this bipartisan issue will encourage our political representatives to roll back some of these changes, or at the very least can prevent even more dire funding cuts.
One of my best friends from the Bay Area, and one of the most politically-engaged scientists I know, has recently lost her job due to funding cuts. She graduated with a PhD in engineering from Stanford earlier this year and had a job lined up through the federal government to work on protecting local marshlands.
The marshlands are a natural barrier against ocean swells and shield coastal communities in and beyond the East Bay against sea rise. With her dream quashed, she had to move across the country to find work, and the Bay lost a valuable resource.
Another often overlooked component of the cut is the recent cap on “indirect costs” for grant funding to researchers. Indirect costs keep the lights on, pay the janitorial staff, etc. Their cap has moved from around 50% of grant funding to 15%!
This is a huge problem for research institutions and universities. It’s kind of like saying that waiters are only allowed to use their tips to pay their bills! This will also lead to less research and lab training opportunities for young adults pursuing a STEM education.
So why mention any of these problems? Because there is so much a single person can do to help fight these cuts to our community! Of course, start by calling or writing to your governors, congressional representatives and senators. At the end of every day they are provided with a summary of what issues their voters contacted them about and hey, they only stay employed if they keep their voters happy!
I believe the best thing we can do in this tumultuous time is to cross the aisle as much as possible. I have always found that when I ask, the people who have different political beliefs than me also believe they are doing the right thing. Usually we are trying to accomplish the same goals in different ways.
And most importantly: VOTE in the 2026 midterm elections!
Lena Cuevas
Fremont
