‘We’re not just doing silly science:’ Biology researchers brave possible bumps in the road

Despite funding uncertainties, University of Alaska Southeast students and faculty remain committed to research

Biology faculty and students doing coastal field work (University of Alaska Southeast photo)

This story was originally published by the University of Alaska Southeast newspaper Whalesong.

By Ellie Ruel

Juneau Independent

Uncertainty in federal funding sources, stemming from the Trump administration’s targeting of science agencies and topics, has given some researchers pause before writing grants for this academic year.

The University of Alaska system has seen $44.7 million of grant money frozen, $11.8 million delayed, and $6.6 million terminated, according to a document to be presented at the upcoming UA Board of Regents meeting in Juneau. While the University of Alaska Southeast has managed to circumvent most of these cuts, the effects of federal changes are trickling down to the smaller community.

Dr. Nicole Nakata is a postdoctoral researcher working in a lab investigating marine invertebrates run by Dr. Julie Schram, UAS professor of animal physiology. Nakata said the rhetoric used to justify these federal cuts is based on faulty assumptions about the nature of research.

“We’re not just doing silly science. Basic biology is really fundamental to our ability to sustainably harvest from our oceans, to feed people, to understand the world around us, to understand biodiversity and how it’s changing,” Nakata said. “This is very fundamental, important science that really is applicable to every taxpayer’s life.”

As a postdoc, Nakata is feeling the federal cuts more severely. Right now, she’s figuring out how to make a month’s old grant proposal work at today’s prices. Earlier this year, Nakata applied for and received a seed grant under Schram’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EpSCOR) project to study the effect of combined, pulsed changes in temperature, salinity, pH, and turbidity on Pacific blue mussels. Supply prices have increased significantly due to inflationary pressures, so she is working with a budget proposal that doesn’t go as far.  

“I applied several months ago for a set amount of money, and now I can buy less with it,” Nakata said. “That might impact what we can buy, how many of each item we can buy, which, in an experimental sense, is going to impact the number of replicates you have, the power of the statistics you can run.”

Nakata finished her Ph.D. in marine biology at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in 2023 and took the UAS research position in 2024. When she returned from maternity leave in June, she found the NSF webpage to apply for ocean sciences postdoctoral funding had been archived and would no longer accept new submissions.

“Usually one does a postdoc and then starts applying while you’re doing your postdoc to permanent positions, like tenure track positions, but most places I know of are under hiring freezes,” Nakata said. “For me personally, it means a lot of job instability, and it’s causing a lot of anxiety, because I also just had a baby. It all coincides with that time in your life. I’m 35, so when you’re trying to start a family, you want a little more stability.”

She noted that a small university like UAS has its perks, as the biology department frequently has openings to teach undergraduate students. If Nakata cannot secure postdoctoral research funding for a couple of semesters, she said teaching would help cover living costs in the interim.

Finding alternative funding

Faculty are also hesitating before writing grants for the upcoming cycle.

“They seem like a moving target, and since I do study ocean warming and acidification, which are parts of climate change, I don’t know if it’s worth putting in all that effort if they’re just gonna dismiss it,” Schram said.

The New York Times reported that under the Trump administration, the National Science Foundation (NSF) cut its funding for biology grants by 52% this year, with a 49% cut to environmental biology research. 

Schram is studying how changes in the environment affect marine invertebrates, using biochemical markers to study their physiological responses. She has used fatty acid chain length as a trophic biomarker to establish food web connections that were previously difficult to identify. 

Her research is funded through the EPSCoR Interface of Change Project, which examines how climate change impacts coastal communities and is supported by the NSF. The grant awarded about $20 million to researchers at UAF, UAA, and UAS who collaborate to study various ecological aspects of Alaska.

Schram said her project hasn’t been defunded or had its wording altered because it’s broadly focused on tracking year-round extreme weather events rather than climate change. 

Much of her grant pays students who work on her projects, so any delay in funding is concerning, she said. To continue her work with greater certainty, Schram is looking for philanthropic sponsors.

“I’m not going to change what I do,” Schram said. “I just might change who I go to for funding.” 

According to Kelly Jensen, UAS grant proposal administrator, state, local, and private grant sources have recently gained momentum, and many foundations are seeking additional donations to meet the surge in application volumes.

“They know more proposals will arrive as federal funding takes a direction not in alignment, perhaps, with proposers’ objectives,” Jensen wrote in an email to the UAS Whalesong.

UAS lacks the level of grant support that larger research institutions have, so many faculty take a hands-on approach to securing project funds. Jensen said the university typically has around 50 active grants across its departments, with 25-30 awards awarded annually. She said the time between a request for grant proposals (RFP) and proposal due dates has shrunk significantly in the past year, likely due to federal funding agencies trying “to spend down available funds before transitioning to new ways of offering funds under the new administration.”

Writing new grants in the current climate

Dr. Jason Kuhn, UAS professor of chemistry, is studying the harmful algal blooms that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning. Some species of Alexandrium algae produce saxitoxin, a potent neurotoxin, which is subsequently consumed by aquatic filter-feeding organisms, such as shellfish. Those who eat the contaminated shellfish commonly experience severe foodborne illnesses.

Current methods of testing for saxitoxin-affected populations of shellfish and algae are rudimentary at best, Kuhn said. He hopes to better quantify the toxin ratios through techniques such as environmental DNA analysis via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which can amplify and detect even highly diluted samples.

Kuhn’s work is currently funded through a UA Faculty Initiative grant worth approximately  $10,000, which has covered laboratory consumables and some equipment. Earlier this year, he also applied for a National Institute of Health grant through Alaska INBRE [IDeA (Institutional Development Award) Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence], a program that directs NIH funds and career development opportunities to underfunded states to promote biomedical research. 

“When I wrote my grant proposal, I definitely referenced climate change in it, because there are other species that are HABs (harmful algal blooms) as well that are potentially coming to Southeast Alaska in the future, that are moving up from the south. This is going to continue to be an increasing problem due to climate change,” Kuhn said. “I actually have no idea right now if my grant is going to get flushed down the toilet by NIH, because I reference climate change. I don’t think that’s likely, but you just don’t know.”

Earlier this year, the NSF began reviewing grants to comply with the Trump administration’s directives to eliminate DEI language from federal sites and funding sources. According to a New York Times article, these include a list of hundreds of “banned” words, including environmental, climate, and diversity.

INBRE has approved Kuhn’s proposal, but the funds were still in limbo since the organization hasn’t received a notice of award from NIH for the upcoming fiscal year, which was scheduled for Aug. 1. Alaska INBRE Program Coordinator Jason Burkhead said the delay isn’t unheard of, but as of early August, the program had not received a timeline from NIH. 

He noted that the agency expects disbursement to happen this month, “but I think it’s not entirely assured.”

 “It’s impacting some of the projects that we’d hoped to get started earlier,” Burkhead said.

As of August 27, INBRE has received its NIH funds. Awards will be disbursed to individual researchers in the near future.

For Kuhn, without the UA faculty initiative funding to support his sampling process, any delay had the potential to be debilitating to the project timeline.

“The thing about doing environmental research, like I’m doing, where we’re looking at probabilistic species, is it’s fairly time dependent,” Kuhn said. “You can’t just be like, ‘Oops, I missed my August sampling window. Let me just get it in December instead.’ It doesn’t work like that.”

Kuhn also applied for a $20 million instrumentation grant from the Department of Defense aimed at helping minority-serving institutions, which he said was disheartening to write under the constraints of the current political climate.

“If you can cast it in a light where it’s important on its own terms, not related to climate change and environmental science, but it’s important in other contexts as well as this work can be, then maybe it’ll be OK,” Kuhn said. “I sat there and just stared at a blank page for an hour like, ‘How do I explain marine biology and environmental science at our minority serving institution?’”

Despite his concern about a societal shift away from science funding, Kuhn is confident UAS can overcome any hurdles it may face in the coming years.

“You can still continue to build forward without necessarily thinking that some big NSF grant is going to come along, or some big, in a way, like a NOAA grant is going to come along, because it’s probably not for at least a couple years, but that doesn’t mean that the university necessarily has to be standing still,” he said. 

Student outlook

Kuhn said the students who come from around the country to pursue their passion in biology or marine biology are a silver lining to teaching at a small institution.

Luke Covello is a junior in the marine biology program and a 2025 NOAA Hollings Scholar. He has studied whales in Dr. Heidi Pearson’s lab since 2023, starting as a volunteer matching fluke patterns. Right now, he handles data entry for field excursions.

“I think it’s been immensely helpful in having connections in the fields, because I’ve gotten to know so many of Heidi’s colleagues through working with her. And so I’ve been getting to know about other research projects around Alaska. I’m getting to know like other scientists in Juneau and around Southeast, which is always helpful if you’re a student,” Covello said. “Marine mammal work is fundamentally so competitive.”

Despite the uncertainties, Covello said science is still a worthwhile pursuit, even if there are some detours along the way. He cited stories of scientists such as the renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, noting their paths weren’t always clear-cut.

“I know so many friends here in Juneau and so many experts who took gap years doing seasonal work, they have a degree that is completely unrelated to what they do now,” Covello said. “So many of the most influential scientists there are, if you look into their academic journeys, it’s never linear.”

He plans to take science one step at a time, concentrating on general goals rather than precise five or 10-year plans. Covello said he will focus on his studies, rather than pay attention to people who forecast the end of science as a field.

“I think it’s so easy for people to spread panic and misinformation about things,” Covello said. “When we set up an expectation that there’s nothing worth continuing for, we’ve already given up.”

• Contact Ellie Ruel at ellie.ruel@juneauindependent.com. Disclaimer: The author is a biology student at UAS and has worked in a research lab.