Recent reductions in federal research grants and changes to H-1B visas are already taking a toll on top universities and threaten the long-term ability by scientists in technology and other fields to conduct the needed foundation for future innovations, according to Simon Atkinson, vice chancellor for research at UC Davis.
“International research and scholarly collaboration is difficult right now,” Atkinson said in an interview on Wednesday with Fierce and two other reporters at a meeting arranged by the Greater Sacramento Economic Council. He said researchers are remaining“resilient” in the face of cuts and changes, but he said some graduate students and even faculty at UC Davis cannot help but be emotional about their long-term prospects in the field.
“Some no longer want to come to the US. We used to say, ‘California is the place to come.’” Others are making difficult decisions about whether they should study or conduct research in other countries. Some first-time student visas have been been difficult to obtain, requiring the university to delay admission until January.
The university has also had to hire additional staff to manage the vagaries of new rules around visas and changes to grants under the Trump administration, Atkinson said. UC Davis is close to Sacramento and benefits from strong support by community leaders and employers and even area congressional representatives who have been supportive of the institution’s needs. Since Trump took office, he has traveled to Washington four times to plea the case of UC Davis and, broadly, the need to support advanced research. He has another trip there in November.
Democrats in Congress have been sympathetic to his appeals and even some Republicans, he said. “There is understandable reluctance by the GOP to be publicly opposed to the president’s agenda.”
UC Davis recorded nearly 41,000 student admissions in 2023; about 32,000 were undergraduates. Atkinson said about 10 % overall are from abroad (with more foreign students entering graduate programs). Because foreign student are charged a higher admission cost, the university is expected to lose tuition revenues when a “significant number” of those students inevitably decide not to attend.
Grants have been reduced or eliminated to UC Davis from US AID, NIH and USDA, DOE and others, he said. “We’ll see if [the grants] come back, but it’s difficult to plan.” With the federal budget still in limbo, he said planning is even harder.
With H-1B visas, the one-year optional practical training program is in question, which poses problems for students who finish a degree and then want some security about taking a job and getting a start with finding housing and more, he said. “We are concerned they may not get here in the first place…It’s less obvious they will be able to stay.”
“A lot of students are asking if a research career long term is for them.”
How this happened
Atkinson said the impact of Trump policies on universities is a constant topic of discussion and has provided a chance for academics and scholars to do some naval gazing. He admitted that academics have taken their roles for granted without persuading the public that elected Trump to office to understand the long term impact of deep research.
UC Davis once had a “labs to lives” approach to its mission that needs to be revived, he said. “We’ve absolutely failed at marketing” the university’s service to the community and its successes, he admitted.
“Researchers are talking about the benefits of service to grateful clients,” he said. One famous research project at UC Davis led to the use of stem cells in utero, starting with bulldog puppies and now with human babies to correct diseases. That research was supported under President George Bush Jr.
Work on the basis of ChatGPT began at UC Berkeley and the latest Nobel Prize in Physics went to research in quantum computing conducted 30 years ago. “If the federal government doesn’t do [the grants], this won’t happen,” he said.
With AI, Atkinson hopes the role of researchers in academic circles continues, partly to act in a “critics role” in “how AI works and fails us.”
Fierce asked Atkinson why the public that elected Trump is apparently not as supportive of the work of academics and of deep research? He answered, “A lot of people don’t see how their son or daughter will go to university or get in or afford it, which is not true. They see the benefits of research for the people inside and not for people outside…But we are a flagship for the land grant university and we’re making discoveries to take out to the field, social benefits.”
If cuts to research grants continue, researchers “will lose heart,” lessening the potential for startups to come out of UC Davis. The university has seen 330 preliminary records for patent applications in recent years, he said.
One of Atkinson’s biggest worries is that tensions will continue to rise with China and that could end collaborations between US researchers and those in China. “It that is cut off, faculty won’t access the latest and greatest insights,” he said. “It’s really important to keep the channels of communication open, or we’ll be surprised” by what China has done.