INFORM February 2026

CAREER ADVICE INFORM 13

Funding cuts and layoffs have made for an unstable environment at many institutions across the United States. While scientific organizations mount responses to defend science, here are some steps scientists can take to maintain stability while growing skills or searching for a job. In many ways, 2025 was a grim year for science in the United States. Layoffs and funding cuts reached deep into federal research institutions such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which cut billions of dollars in research funding and contracts. President Donald Trump continues to seek cuts for key science-conducting agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). “NSF turns 75 with its doors closed, facing a 60 percent budget cut in 2026,” read a headline at R&D World during the government shutdown. “The morale has been as low as anyone has seen in decades, maybe ever,” one employee at NASA’s Jet Propulsion told The Los Angeles Times in October, as the lab laid off 550 employees.