U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office [ Science ]

The flava:

Some 10,109 doctoral-trained experts in science and related fields left their jobs last year as President Donald Trump dramatically shrank the overall federal workforce. That exodus was only 3% of the 335,192 federal workers who exited last year but represents 14% of the total number of Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) or health fields employed at the end of 2024 as then-President Joe Biden prepared to leave office.

The numbers come from employment data posted earlier this month by the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM). At 14 research agencies Science examined in detail, departures outnumbered new hires last year by a ratio of 11 to one, resulting in a net loss of 4224 STEM Ph.D.s. The graphs that follow show the impact is particularly striking at such scientist-rich agencies as the National Science Foundation (NSF). But across the government, these departing Ph.D.s took with them a wealth of subject matter expertise and knowledge about how the agencies operate. . . .   

The article:

https://www.science.org/content/article/u-s-government-has-lost-more-10-000-stem-ph-d-s-trump-took-office

Texas A&M’s Melting Point [ Texas Monthly ]

Five presidents in five years. High-profile firings and cancellations. Crackdowns on dissent. Inside state leaders’ efforts to remake one of our finest institutions.

The article:

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/meltdown-at-texas-a-m-university

Expanding the Web of Control: America’s Censored Campuses 2025 [ pen.org ]

The flava:

There is no use in sugarcoating things. For higher education in America, 2025 was a year of catastrophe. 

Across nearly every conceivable front – from state capitals to Capitol Hill and even on social media – America’s politicians have been waging a full-scale campaign against colleges and universities, with a concerted focus on speech. The toll is immense. Fear among faculty, students, and administrators is widespread. Self-censorship in teaching and research is rampant. Every week seems to bring a new law or directive that further threatens academic freedom and educational quality. Many professors are grappling with online hate and doxxing, at times instigated by elected officials. International students have been detained for their speech and threatened with expulsion from the country. Angry legislators are targeting any office or program even tangentially related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). And campus leaders, buckling under the assault, have fired, suspended, or sanctioned scores of professors and staff, many for constitutionally protected speech. Some university presidents have been forced out or driven to resign. Many campus leaders feel they have no choice but to comply and try to strike deals with the federal government, even as they face mounting threats at the state level.

America’s Censored Campuses 2025: Expanding the Web of Control is a chronicle of this crisis. . . .   

The article:

https://pen.org/report/americas-censored-campuses-25-web-of-control/

“A Reckoning:” Fmr. Columbia President on Academic Freedom Under Trump [ Amanpour and Company ]

US science after a year of Trump [ Nature ]

The flava:

More than 7,800 research grants terminated or frozen. Some 25,000 scientists and personnel gone from agencies that oversee research. Proposed budget cuts of 35% — amounting to US$32 billion.

These are just a few of the ways in which Donald Trump has downsized and disrupted US science since returning to the White House last January. As his administration seeks to reshape US research and development, it has substantially scaled back and restricted what science the country pursues and the workforce that runs the federal scientific enterprise. . . . 

The article:

https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-026-00088-9/index.html

Penn Calls Government’s Demand for Lists of Jewish Staff ‘Disconcerting’ [ NYTimes ]

The flava:

The University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday condemned Trump administration investigators for seeking records about Jewish employees, saying in a federal court filing that the request was “disconcerting.”

The university and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have been at odds for months over an investigation into antisemitism at Penn.

The tensions roared into public view in November, when the Trump administration sued the university because it had “refused to comply” with a subpoena that sought information about employees who brought complaints about antisemitic discrimination and those who are members of Jewish groups on campus, among other people.

The demand prompted a campus uproar, and in a blistering response on Tuesday, Penn described the request as an “extraordinary and unconstitutional demand.”

“The E.E.O.C. insists that Penn produce this information without the consent — and indeed, over the objections — of the employees impacted while entirely disregarding the frightening and well-documented history of governmental entities that undertook efforts to identify and assemble information regarding persons of Jewish ancestry,” the university said in a filing in Federal District Court in Philadelphia. “The government’s demand implicates Penn’s substantial interest in protecting its employees’ privacy, safety and First Amendment rights.”

Penn declined to comment beyond its 163-page filing on Tuesday. In its filing, the university said that the E.E.O.C.’s request had “alarmed” members of the university’s Jewish community.

The article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/us/university-of-pennsylvania-trump-jewish-staff.html

In Scientific Publishing, Who Should Foot the Bill? [ Undark ]

The flava:

From 2019 to 2023, authors paid an estimated $8.3 billion for open access to six publishers. And critics, including Kharrazi, contend the article processing charge (APC) model creates incentives that are at odds with high-quality science: Since volume equals profit, the model favors quantity over quality. A recent Cambridge University Press report on the issue quoted one librarian: “[T]he journal’s interest in rejecting bad science is in direct conflict with its interest in maintaining revenue.”

The APC at Current Research in Environmental Sustainability, one of some 2,900 titles published by Elsevier, is $2,620. At the journal, Kharrazi had a front row view of the APC model’s effects, and he did not like what he saw. So long as a reviewer signed off, he told Undark, whatever it was — credible research, junk science, AI-generated text — the financial incentives were to publish. . . .  

The article:

https://undark.org/2026/01/07/apc-science-publishing/

This University Built an Honors College — and Then Destroyed It | The Honest Broker #5

Charles Schultz on libraries

Another note from Southern Bubba, Ph.D.

What is love?

Really.  I have heard colleagues say that they love their jobs.  Then I wonder whether they would work for free.  After all, no one demands to be paid for doing what they actually love.  

But I think what my colleagues really mean is that they think they would rather endure their current misery--rather than some other unknown misery--for the paychecks they receive.  

We're in the business of measuring and sorting people (most especially their central nervous systems).  Does he have the IQ?  Does she have the temperament?  Can they function in the field?  Can their disability be accommodated?  Relative to others in her boat, can she swim?  Will he fulfill his promise one day?  Could she be the best?  Will she embarrass us one day?  Will they harm someone because I opened the gate for them?

We have to be shrewd, because we, too, are being judged on how well we judge.

But I'm not sure whether I care anymore about being judged.

To win.  To perform.  To dominate.  To create.  To impress.  To be ethically or technically superior.

I'm kind of tired of it.