Rallying for science across the US

Crowds gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC, and in cities across the US on 7 March to protest the Trump administration’s actions undercutting US science. Federal agencies have slashed or paused research funding, deleted public data, ordered mass layoffs, and attacked diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. “We are looking at the most aggressively antiscience government the United States has ever had,” said astronomer Philip Plait. He was among the speakers in the nation’s capital at the Stand Up for Science rally, which drew 5000 federal employees, affected scientists, and others.

Several attendees at the DC rally spoke to Physics Today. A plasma physicist talked about early-career scientists and graduate students losing their jobs and funding. National Institutes of Health employees said layoffs and funding cuts have shrunk their labs and slowed their scientific research. A professor at Howard University said she worries about the removal of DEI funding that supports much of her lab’s work.

“The administration is firing, and bullying, and threatening scientists and workers across the government who make the world a better place,” said speaker Gretchen Goldman, an environmental engineer and president of the Union of Concerned Scientists. She added that “we stand together today to raise our voices together and to tell the administration that we will not back down.”

This article was originally published online on 10 March 2025.