We were just kids in Sonoma County when we first felt the urgency—from summers filled with thickened smoke and anxious harvests during record-breaking heat. As scientists, we’re trying to do something about it, but the funding that makes our work possible is being destroyed.
Scientists are the reason we have defeated deadly diseases, landed on the moon and led global innovation. With devastating budget cuts to crucial funding sources like the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), we are abandoning science and we are abandoning our future. From agricultural advancements that secure our food supply to groundbreaking medical discoveries, federal funding is critical to our long-term wellbeing.
Proposed cuts to the federal agencies that fund scientific research threaten to compromise America’s longstanding role as a research powerhouse This identity is rooted in its robust research enterprise, especially in states like California. As the fourth largest economy in the world, California’s success is powered in large part by its investment in science and technology, which fuels economic growth, contributes to national security, attracts global talent and trains the next generation of researchers.
NIH funding contributed almost $14 billion and NSF funding over $1 billion to California’s economy. Additionally, for every dollar spent on research, more than double that is returned to the economy. Slashing funding for agencies, like NSF, that make up just over 1% of the federal budget won’t reduce the deficit or lower everyday costs, but will undermine past investments and stall vital research.
The new administration intends to cut NSF’s budget by two thirds and has already cut nearly half of its federal employees, terminated over 1,000 funded grants, and most recently instructed staff to halt payments on existing awards and pause new ones altogether. NSF is not alone in this fight.
Agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Energy are also under fire for supporting climate science, clean energy, and so-called “woke” research in the social and behavioral sciences.
Most Americans unknowingly rely on federal science funding in their daily lives. A recent poll found 90% of people use weather forecasts, job market reports, food safety warnings and other information rooted in federal science funding, but only 10% are concerned with the cuts. NSF funds cybersecurity, K-12 education, veteran resources, developed the American Sign Language, built the foundation of Artificial Intelligence, facilitated groundbreaking medical treatments and so much more. When funding is cut, everyday people who rely on this federally funded information will be without. Professors cancel research programs. Community partnerships dissolve. The work stops. The next climate solution, the next medical breakthrough, might never be found.
The fight over federal science funding isn’t solely about politics. It’s about whether people like us—from rural towns, families of color and public schools—will ever get the chance to dream big. Federal support for science built the opportunities that changed our lives. Now, those lifelines are being destroyed.
We both came from humble beginnings growing up in Sonoma County public schools. One of us began at Santa Rosa Junior College as a first-generation student, supported by a Pell Grant. A fascination with fungi, and their role as nature-based solutions to climate change, led to a doctorate funded by NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship, and next an NSF-supported postdoctoral fellowship. This public investment makes it possible today for her to teach climate resilience to students and to help them see themselves as part of the climate solution.
Despite this impressive trajectory, the fear that the fellowship, a source of income, will be the next one cancelled, not because the science isn’t sound but because the scientist in question is from an underrepresented identity in STEM which is being attacked. The other began at CSU Monterey Bay, drawn to the ocean with little idea of the pathways available to her. It was NSF-funded undergraduate research experiences and programs like Environmental Biology for Pacific Islanders that lit the way forward for her to pursue a career in conservation. Federally funded programs offered us a future in research, but with current funding cuts, it’s become difficult for emerging scientists like us to continue down the path we’ve invested so much in. What made the difference in both of our successes wasn’t luck, but public investment: Scholarship, mentorship and research funds all made possible by federal support.
Our stories show what’s possible when science is funded and accessible. That support is vital now more than ever, as communities like ours, mostly Latinx and working class, live with the daily realities of climate change. In Sonoma County, droughts, wildfires and extreme heat aren’t distant threats–they’re reshaping our air, water, economy and health. And yet, places like ours are too often left out of conversations about climate solutions. Even within California, media coverage favors wealthier regions while devastating fires like the 2017 Tubbs Fire are forgotten.
Science should be accessible to everyone, but proposed cuts to research funding threaten to shut out entire communities. This is not just about lost discoveries. It is about lost jobs, stalled education and missed breakthroughs in health, climate and technology. NSF prepares the next generation by bringing STEM into early learning and training teachers to engage students in every corner of the country. It equips K–12 schools, community colleges and workforce programs to meet the needs of industries desperate for skilled workers. When we limit who gets to participate in science, we lose the perspectives that drive real innovation. Kids from rural towns, working class families and communities of color bring essential lived knowledge to the table. Without support, their voices and their solutions risk being left out entirely.
It’s clear that federally funded science programs work. While we may not have had many examples for careers in science when we grew up in Geyserville, today we hope to serve as role models for young people with dreams just like ours. Science should be a visible, viable path forward. The programs that fuel curiosity and power American innovation urgently need support. Let’s not allow politics to erase these options for the next generation of scientists and changemakers. Instead invest in our communities and our futures. We urge you, as readers and fellow people from Sonoma County, to use your power and speak for those without voices; reach out to our representatives at any level of government and advocate for the access to knowledge. Science is rooted in our local areas, driven by human wonder, and with your help it has the power to change the world.
