The American academic research engine has long been the envy of the world. Generally well-funded, labs in the United States have been able to attract the best minds who generate breakthroughs and train the next generation workforce that powers the U.S. economy. But since the start of the second Trump administration in January 2025, new federal policies have destabilized the American scientific enterprise.
The disruption generated by the Trump administration's funding, DEI, and visa policies has been well reported by the media. On an individual level, though, what do academic researchers think of all these changes, and how have they been directly affected?
We are researchers affiliated with Arizona State University's scientist opinion panel survey, known as SciOPS, a 5-year research program designed to monitor, understand, and improve how scientists communicate with the public. We wanted to know more about the reality inside today's universities as researchers grapple with Trump administration policies.
Along with our colleagues, we fielded a survey of randomly sampled members of the academic science community participating in the SciOPS panel. We obtained responses from 280 scientists from several fields, including biology, chemistry, civil and environmental engineering, computer and information science engineering, geography, and public health from 131 universities.
