Katie Langin

A quote by H. Holden Thorp, Editor-in-chief of Science journals, on a black background. The quote is: "… why curtail a program … that cultivates and grows the number of US graduate students and future researchers?"

"There is perhaps no stronger evidence of the [Trump] administration’s objectives to reduce the quality of the US scientific workforce than its treatment of the [NSF]’s flagship Graduate Research Fellowship Program," writes H. Holden Thorp in a new #ScienceEditorial. https://scim.ag/4d0fi3N

A stylized illustration of a chemistry flask filled with a bubbling liquid and producing large plumes of smoke.

Rejoice! It’s grad student recruitment weekend!

Our Experimental Error columnist shares advice for making the most of graduate school interviews. #NewSciGen https://bit.ly/46IcSDg

NIH reneges on recognizing union for early career researchers The biomedical research agency says trainees in its labs are not “employees”

NIH sent notice this week that it will no longer recognize a union of early career researchers on the basis that trainees aren't "employees." My latest for @science.org.

www.science.org/content/arti...

An illustration of a man in the sky above a town with email addresses around him, with text: When I lost my university email, my identity as a scientist took an unexpected hit

"Losing my institutional email address felt like losing a small but vital piece of the scientist I had become." #ScienceWorkingLife https://scim.ag/3OGpS67

FAQ for NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) return without review (RWR)

An NSF spokesperson just responded to our request for percentages:

"NSF declines to provide the data. As stated below, we do not have any additional information to share beyond what is already included in the FAQs: www.nsf.gov/funding/info...

Got a tip? Got a tip for Science’s news department? Our reporters would like to hear from you. Here are ways to contact us.

@policyhound.bsky.social and I have sent NSF an email asking for more information. If anyone has knowledge of what's going on behind the scenes you're welcome to contact us. My Signal ID is klangin.48. You can also email the news department through an encrypted email: www.science.org/content/page...

That means questions raised in this story are still relevant. Are RWRs more frequent this year? Are they happening more in fields that weren't spelled out as priority research areas, such as computer science? What are the reasons for the RWRs?

www.science.org/content/arti...

Second year graduate students were no longer eligible to apply, so it's likely this year's applicant pool is smaller than in previous years. Because of that, a comparison of the total number of RWRs between 2025 and 2026 is basically meaningless. The best comparison would be using percentages.

‘Completely shattered.’ Changes to NSF’s graduate student fellowship spur outcry The announcement comes months later than usual, leaving many would-be applicants stranded

NSF changed its eligibility requirements in September, a last minute changed that caused much outcry.

www.science.org/content/arti...

NSF's #GFRP has been embroiled in controversy over the past year. The agency released FAQs today in response to concerns that applicants have had proposals returned without review (RWR). It says there were about the same number of RWRs this year, but that comparison comes with a big asterisk.

I wasn’t sure students were grasping my lessons—so I devised an experiment “Science communication, like science, thrives on evidence and awareness,” this chemistry lecturer writes

"As a scientist, I was trained to seek evidence, test hypotheses, and adjust based on data. However, in the classroom, I was teaching without any feedback."

Our latest @science.org Working Life essay—about an innovative teaching experiment.

www.science.org/content/arti...

Major Chinese funder to stop paying fees for 30 pricey open-access journals Move comes amid effort to grow the country’s own journals

Are #openaccess fees that some journals charge authors too high? The Chinese Academy of Sciences, the world’s largest research institution, reportedly thinks so and plans to stop funding some, a move that could shake up #scientificpublishing. @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

The evolution of the football helmet, a critical safety device, has accelerated in recent years, driven by concerns over the long-term effects of concussions, new concepts and materials, and data-driven test protocols.

Learn more this week in Science: https://scim.ag/4rAjjjN

Lawmakers spend big on home state science projects Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, king of congressional earmarks, steers $165 million to his alma maters

The 2026 budgets of individual science agencies may be lean, but Mitch McConnell once again lead Congress in earmarking big bucks for homestate university research facilities www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump slump? Attendance plummets at some science meetings, but others hold steady Amid travel bans, a government shutdown, and funding crunches, 2025 was a turbulent year for U.S. scientific societies

"One bad year could kill one of our favorite scientific societies."

In my latest story for @science.org, I explored how U.S. conferences fared over the last year amid concerns about an attendance slump.

www.science.org/content/arti...

Sorry you feel left out. The OPM definition of a STEM profession was very broad and we had to restrict the analysis somehow for it to be manageable.

Yes

U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies

The US government lost more than 10,000 STEM PhDs last year, according to an analysis by Science of newly released OPM data, with 11 departures for every hire. And many OPM calls "voluntary" separations were probably pushed. www.science.org/content/arti...

Talk about a brain drain. The PhDs who left U.S. federal STEM or health jobs last year had >106,636 years of experience. More grim statistics compiled here: www.science.org/content/arti...

How many STEM Ph.D.s were lost from the U.S. federal government last year?

My colleagues @mghersher.bsky.social and @policyhound.bsky.social dug into a recent data release to find the answer. A @science.org exclusive.

www.science.org/content/arti...

An illustration of people throwing darts at a board, with the hedline: Why I teach my students about scientific failure

"Research is messy. … Trying to protect students from that reality does them a disservice."

On #InternationalDayOfEducation, take a look back at this Working Life essay on teaching students about scientific failure. https://scim.ag/4sTaQcH

How chasing a high-impact publication nearly broke me “Looking back, I’m not sure it was worth the sacrifice,” this scientist writes

"When the paper finally appeared in print, I was in no condition to rejoice."

Our latest Working Life essay explores the burnout a scientist experienced after pouring himself into the pursuit of a Nature or Science publication.

www.science.org/content/arti...

Bizarre 400-million-year-old fossil was an unknown life form Enigmatic organism known as Prototaxites cannot be fungus, new analysis finds

Whatever Prototaxites was, it wasn't the Godzilla of Fungus. (Or any kind of fungus.) www.science.org/content/arti...

"What we’re … seeing is the toll of the uncertainty."

My latest story for @science.org—part of a package that explores how the U.S. scientific community has changed under Trump—includes new numbers on graduate enrollment and faculty hiring.

www.science.org/content/arti...

In the age of Trump, are U.S. scientists ‘bringing white papers to a gunfight’? An unprecedented assault has forced researchers to rethink their advocacy tactics

I actually wrote something for a change: a look at how the US scientific community is trying to push back on Trump policy changes they oppose. | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

As a new assistant dean, I felt out of my depth—until I looked to my past for guidance “I … knew any career growth would come with self-doubt and uncertainty,” this university administrator writes

"I wish I could tell my grad school self it’s OK to feel out of your depth; even deans can feel that way."

Our latest Working Life essay. @science.org @sciencecareers.bsky.social

www.science.org/content/arti...

An illustration of a man walking out of a dark, paper-filled world into a bright, colorful one. With text: I thought science hinged on prestige. Moving abroad made me reassess my priorities

"I was thrilled to be on an exchange semester overseas, but I saw it as just a detour from my imagined career path. I didn’t realize I was already pedaling toward a different life ..."

Check out one of our top #ScienceWorkingLife essays of 2025: https://scim.ag/3Y573en

An illustration of a woman with a red hand over her mouth looking at other people. The hedline: After an academic mentor’s unwanted sexual advances, I stayed silent for decades. Now, I’m speaking out

"… I share my story in the hope that others … will reflect on moments when trust mattered in their own career journey, and on the responsibility we each hold in ensuring that the next generation enters a scientific world where safety is actively protected." https://scim.ag/4sdMVof

I thought science hinged on prestige. Moving abroad made me reassess my priorities In Denmark, this Ph.D. student fell in love with an egalitarian society that values work-life balance

www.science.org/content/arti...

How I confronted my growing cynicism about academia—and rekindled my sense of purpose “Maintaining hope doesn’t mean ignoring hardships or naïvely expecting things to work out,” this professor writes

www.science.org/content/arti...