this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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Science

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U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office (www.science.org)
submitted 6 days ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/science@beehaw.org
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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.

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[–] mrsilkworm@piefed.social 13 points 6 days ago

Who needs nerds that spend decades of their lives studying their field to actually do science stuff and be data based and driven, when all your questions can be answered by Grok on your X account? You're fired!

/s

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Trump cut all research funding, which means no salaries for post docs, which means no visas. Of course they will leave, but there are no positions for them back home as countries worldwide are still pathetic for research funding.

[–] 5715@feddit.org 3 points 6 days ago

There will be others and some of them will carve out their own places.