Viewpoint: Scientific research is not waste. Funding cuts will harm Michiganders, economy

Science brought me to Michigan. Four years ago, I moved here to join MSU scientists studying plants in so many different ways, from sequencing DNA to measuring their traits in the field.

Now, I study how plants survive environmental challenges like extreme cold or drought. My work may help us produce resilient crops and protect wild plants from climate change. But I can only do this work because of the once-robust system of federal science funding that is now under threat.

The start of the second Trump administration has devastated science funding.

In January, researchers funded by USAID, including the Feed the Future Innovation Lab at MSU, received a stop-work order for their food security research. Funding freezes and staff cuts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are hindering cancer care and research.

And the NIH recently pulled funding that their own expert reviewers had already awarded to scientists studying LGBTQ+ health, setting a worrying precedent for censorship of any scientific topic the government dislikes.

These cuts to federal science funding harm Michigan.

In FY2024, over $1 billion of NIH grant funding went to Michigan, supporting $2.57 billion in economic activity and 11,810 jobs, according to United for Medical Research. These workers spend earnings in their community, supporting Michigan businesses.

Beyond funding research directly, indirect costs from funding agencies also support critical functions such as IT support, accounting and maintaining the buildings where we research, teach and learn.

In addition to economic impacts, scientific advances from federally funded research directly impact Michiganders.

Researchers in Michigan are using federal funding to uncover the relationship between cancer and the immune system, improve biofuel crop production, and study how climate change affects the water quality of our lakes.

In 2023, MSU scientists used federal funding to sequence the sour cherry genome. Breeders can use this genome to breed cherry trees that bloom later in the season, preventing late frosts from killing the buds so that Michigan farmers can harvest more cherries and make more money.

All this science protects our economy and our way of life.

Science funding also trains the next generation of scientists, preparing them for jobs in health care and other fields. One example of this is the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, which funds students to do a summer of mentored research at over 300 host institutions across the country, including MSU. They learn lab techniques and coding skills and help make new scientific discoveries.

I was fortunate to participate in one of these programs as an undergraduate, studying a protein that helps tomato flowers develop into fruits after pollination. Now, I’m an NSF-funded researcher, as are the undergraduate students I mentor.

Without NSF funding, opportunities like this would be available only to students who are wealthy enough to work unpaid. These trainees are the current and future scientific workforce, and that career path should be open to everyone.

Science funding is not government waste. The current administration’s threats to science funding risk health, businesses and educational opportunities for Michiganders. For our Lansing community, we all need to urge our representatives to protect American science.

Madison Plunkert is a biologist pursuing a plant science PhD at Michigan State University.