BOSTON (WWLP) - Trump administration federal funding cuts are devastating to scientists across the country, and Governor Healey says many of these scientists could bring their work abroad.
Federal funding cuts affect science industries from all angles, from cancelling research grants, to cutting
billions in funding for other research projects, to blacklisting certain types scientific studies. As a result, colleges have frozen hiring and cut graduate school and PhD slots, and some labs have closed entirely.
Governor Healey proclaims March 19 as Edith Nourse Rogers Day
The governor said other countries could capitalize on lack of funding in the United States and bring top-tier science and innovation to foreign soil.
"The federal government is going to cut off funding and take away your research," Healey said. "'Come to our country, we'll give you a lab, we'll set you up, we'll give you staff, and you can pioneer the new technologies on our shores.' That's not putting America first."
This issue is already affecting western Massachusetts, as a top researcher at UMass Amherst told the Boston Globe his colleagues are being recruited by Chinese officials.
"It could take a whole generation to rebuild something that could be lost in a year," the researcher, Mike Malone, told the Globe.
Governor Healey said this is also an urgent problem for those seeking medical care in the United States who rely on research and innovation by top scientists to get healthy.
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