Funding Cuts Are a ‘Gut Punch’ for STEM Education Researchers

The New York Times ^ | May 22, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ET | Katrina Miller

[E. Pluribus Unum]

More than half of the National Science Foundation grants terminated since April fund programs that would help students train in science, engineering and math.

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...

[Lurker]

“But on the other hand, the benefits of educated citizens is good for everyone.”

No, it isn’t. It most certainly isn’t good for the people who have to pony up the cash for it. At some point in the future this young lady may be a boon to society or she may not.

Government has no right to bet money they took from me under the threat of force on another person’s future.

L

[norwaypinesavage]

"the values encapsulated in diversity, equity and inclusion, or D.E.I., have been a focus in the field"

Proves that this program should be totally defunded.

[wjcsux]

Scumbags Taking Everyone’s Money.

[CodeToad]

The vast majority of “STEM” isn’t.

[SmokingJoe]

Most of the innovation and scientific breakthroughs in America come from top private companies like Nvidia, SpaceX, Google etc.
Them university tax dollar gobblers just produce garbage like the dangerous Covid vaccines and climate change garbage etc. Naturally, legacy news will back them.

[Languager]

The google guys invented google while undergrad students at Stanford, while most certainly benefiting from NSF funding.