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More than half of the National Science Foundation grants terminated since April fund programs that would help students train in science, engineering and math.
May 22, 2025Updated 11:34 a.m. ET
Change continues to ripple through the National Science Foundation as it tries to comply with the policies and priorities of the Trump administration. But the branch of the agency that funds STEM education research is taking a disproportionate hit.
STEM education research focuses on improving how students, from preschool to university, are trained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. That encompasses everything from adopting better curriculums and teaching methods to changing the way schools and districts are run. Researchers say that the values encapsulated in diversity, equity and inclusion, or D.E.I., have been a focus in the field since long before the terms were strung into an acronym and popularized.
“The work of STEM education has always been about creating a bigger tent, giving access to more students of all backgrounds so that our STEM work force better reflects the diversity and demographics of the American public,” said Mike Steele, a math education researcher at Ball State University and a former program officer in the National Science Foundation’s directorate of STEM education.
More than 1,400 research grants at the foundation have been canceled since April, according to Grant Watch, a crowdsourced online database. As of May 7, awards for STEM education accounted for 54 percent of those terminations, a loss of $773 million in funding, which represents nearly three-fourths of the total dollar amount of terminated foundation grants.
One canceled project aimed to use virtual reality to better engage high school students with autism in engineering. Another created hands-on programs for Indigenous youth to grow food using traditional knowledge and modern technology. A third intended to double the number of rural students earning associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in STEM across the Black Belt of Alabama.
Experts in the field saw the grant cancellations as part of a broader attack on education, as well as on D.E.I., by the Trump administration.
