Wendy Dorman is the recipient of a NASA early career researcher grant to create a detailed grasslands map in Illinois to improve wildlife, agricultural and environmental understanding.

Despite farmer interest in her work, her funding is under threat by President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) because the department is considering the elimination of early career programs. 

“There’s not a good grassland layer in Illinois, and it’s exciting work. We’ve been getting a lot of farmers contacting us … and other states (want) to be able to replicate our methods,” Dorman, a PhD candidate in Natural Resources and Environmental Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said in an interview.

Since taking office on Jan. 20, the Trump administration has fired or laid off thousands of federal employees, some of whom were later reinstated, shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and put an end to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. 

Many of these policies endanger institutions of higher education, with the government cracking down on universities seen as noncompliant, cancelling over $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University because it said the school has not sufficiently thwarted antisemitism on campus. 

Dorman is one of many scientists at Illinois who is adversely affected by the government’s reduction or termination of research. The university is a public land-grant institution heavily reliant on hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds. A land-grant institution is a university or college granted federal land by states or Congress with the purpose of providing education to the working class. 

Classified as a R1 research institution, the highest ranking for doctoral or research activity in the nation, the university is home to various partnerships with the federal government, including the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). 

And located in the Midwest, a major agricultural region, university research contributes greatly to farming initiatives such as crop resilience and plant genetics. 

“Illinois is one of America’s leading research universities, and our discoveries and innovations improve our state, nation and the world,” University Spokesperson Pat Wade said in an email. “Federal funding accounted for $615 million of our total sponsored research budget of nearly $755 million in fiscal year 2024.”

At the Stand Up For Science March, which Dorman organized and held at the Alma Mater statue on campus on March 7, fellow researchers at the university spoke on how their work has been put to a halt.

Asher Hudson was recently hired as a postdoctoral researcher for a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) project on weed control at the university. His position was abruptly terminated by the agency in late February.

“It (the termination email) said something along the lines of, based on your performance, your continued employment with the agency is not in the public benefit or public interest,” Hudson said in an interview. “I had my job for two months. My performance was never evaluated.” 

Peter Goldsmith is the director and principal investigator of the Soybean Innovation Lab (SIL) at the university. The lab’s contract was terminated when the Trump administration rescinded USAID funding. The lab was funded by the agency’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative to advance soybean development in Africa. 

“The mission of the SIL is to unleash soybean’s economic engine to solve the most intractable issues of food insecurity, poverty and malnutrition around the world,” Goldsmith said at the march. “My lab will close on April 15, and my 30 employees will need to find work elsewhere.”

He said scientific research at the university has historically benefited not only society, but also inspired young people to enter the STEM field and solved the biggest challenges in Illinois industries. 

“All of that impact to create a brighter future for Illinois agriculture, all of that impact creating uniquely educated University of Illinois students, all of that impact transforming emerging economies and explicitly caring for those less fortunate — all from a simple idea that research and science can help society,” Goldsmith said. 

Biomedical research facing cuts, caps to indirect cost funding

The university also faces cuts in life-saving biomedical research. 

On Feb, 7, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced it was capping funding for indirect costs at 15%. Indirect costs, or overhead costs, support an organization’s operations such as administration, facilities and equipment. 

The average negotiated indirect cost rate is about 28%, the agency said. Prior to Feb. 7, the Federal Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement effective June 2024 for the Urbana campus and the Chicago campus was 58.6% and 59.9% respectively for on-campus research. 

“Any recalculation of indirect cost rates or changes to how research is funded would have a significant impact in our ability to conduct research, not just at Illinois but across the nation,” University Spokesperson Wade said. 

Along with 22 other states, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul co-filed a motion on Feb. 10 to stop the Trump administration from cutting Department of Health and Human Services and NIH funding that supports medical and public health research. The plaintiffs said the actions of the NIH were unlawful and would devastate research to cure and treat human disease. 

Vice President for Economic Development and Innovation at the University of Illinois System Dr. Joseph Walsh testified in the lawsuit, citing the medical contributions of the three universities in the UI system. The system received more than $325 million in NIH-funded research in FY 2024, Walsh said in his testimony. 

“In 2024, NIH funding for University of Illinois research led to the development of promising new therapeutics, including a novel antibiotic to fight drug-resistant bacteria and a redesigned drug for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common blood cancer in children,” Walsh said.

The NIH awarded the Urbana campus over $75 million in FY 2024, in the form of 186 grants. A 15% indirect cost rate cap would mean a $14 million loss in funding. And system-wide, the indirect rate cap is estimated to eliminate approximately $67 million annually, Walsh said. 

“In the short term, the inability to recover indirect costs associated with research will require the System to cover these expenses through other internal funds, directly affecting our ability to deliver critical education, research, and service functions,” Walsh said.

But Walsh said drawing from internal funds to cover the indirect cost rate cap deficit is not a long-term solution. 

“Sustaining this approach will become increasingly difficult, ultimately hindering our capacity to pursue research that serves the public good,” Walsh said. 

On March 5, Judge Angel Kelley in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts ordered a nationwide preliminary injunction to halt the implementation of the NIH funding changes, an action Wade said the university’s administration is encouraged by. 

Impact felt beyond campus community

To navigate federal changes, the university has established a steering group to monitor and analyze the impact of proposed federal directives.  

However, researchers — and beneficiaries of scientific progress — are not the only ones harmed by the Trump administration’s policies. Graduate and undergraduate students are also feeling the squeeze.  

Due to the collaborative nature of the USDA and Urbana campus, Hudson, who lost his research position, was in the process of becoming an affiliate professor on the Urbana campus and hiring students. 

“The removal of USDA scientists, one thing that it means for the university is fewer research positions for undergrads and fewer positions for graduate students,” Hudson said. 

On Feb. 27, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the agency was downsizing the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, which provides summer work for undergraduate students at research-intensive universities. Many program participants are from underrepresented backgrounds and the foundation provides about $80 million to fund REU annually. 

The Urbana campus and the Chicago campus are both part of the REU program as host institutions. Sixteen different labs participate in the research program on the Urbana campus. 

As funding uncertainties and court litigations against the Trump administration continue, Hudson noted some USDA employees were reinstated in their positions, though he has yet to receive notice from the agency. However, he said he is optimistic about the power of collective action and public support for science. 

“I don’t think this is a done deal,” Hudson said. “I think that if people understand what they’re losing, and they speak up to say, ‘No, we actually want science to be done. We believe that investing in science is investing in America,’ I think that can actually change things.”