Utah has invested heavily in STEM programs designed to inspire and encourage future scientists and engineers. The Trump administration recently announced deep cuts to federal research funding that could significantly impact the state’s STEM capability. 

The Science & Community Impacts Mapping Project estimates Salt Lake County could lose up to $86 million due to federal science research cuts, with a projected national loss of $16 billion and nearly 70,000 jobs. 

Nick Ide graduated from West Jordan High School and attended the University of Utah, earning a biology degree. Ide’s father was an engineer who always championed STEM careers as a solid job choice, encouraging Ide and his sister to pursue careers in the science field. 

“I really fell in love with my biology and chemistry classes over math and engineering,” Ide said. “I was a volunteer for a year and a half in a lab when the professor at the lab offered to pay me part time. I loved the job. I love experiments and that’s still true to this day.”

His research opportunities at the University of Utah led him to pursue a PhD in biochemistry at Columbia University in New York City, and he just started a research job at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge.

Before he started his doctorate program, Ide worked for a biotech start-up in Utah. The company had received funds from the National Science Foundation through a program that helps small STEM companies get off the ground. His time working with the start-up convinced Ide that scientific research was where he wanted to focus his career.

When he applied to Columbia, he wasn’t sure if his experience and education would make him a competitive candidate for the university, but when he got offers from several top schools, he realized his time in Utah had served him well.

“I moved to New York in 2019 and I was able to get a fellowship funded by the National Science Foundation,” he said. “They directly funded my research for most of my time in the lab. Also, the lab I worked in was almost solely funded by the National Institutes of Health.”

President Donald Trump’s proposal would cut billions of dollars for research. The plan hits the NSF with a funding cut of more than 50%, while the NIH budget would be slashed by nearly 40% and the Environmental Protection Agency would lose approximately 50% of its funding. 

Scientists, like Ide, are gravely concerned that these cuts will diminish the capacity for groundbreaking medical and scientific research and discourage students from going into STEM careers. The SCIMaP study estimates Utah could lose nearly $130 million in funding and more than 500 jobs through the federal cuts.

Ide said the monetary loss has had a ripple effect throughout the science community. Student training grants are eliminated; clinical trials are canceled, leaving patients in limbo; custodial and support staff are fired; and, without the funding to provide care, thousands of lab animals will be euthanized. 

The New York Times reported that more than 300 lab animals were killed at a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health facility located in West Virginia after funding cuts forced layoffs.

“I’m deeply worried about the future of American STEM competitiveness. I’m worried that there’s such an attack on higher education,” Ide said. “Pursuing a career in STEM is always going to be well-respected but so many people right now are looking for positions outside of the country. It’s sad.”

Ide experienced firsthand how investments in public institutions and scientific research create opportunities for researchers to create groundbreaking science, affecting everything from medicine to space exploration. He hopes the state continues to invest in STEM programs and scientific research to ensure its future.

“The science opportunities I had shouldn’t be rare. They should be the baseline for the next generation of kids.”λ