signalmankenneth
Verified User
The U.S. is also losing expertise in our federal government too, replaced by crackpot conspiracy theorist, idiots, naysayers and sycophants?!!
The White House appears hell-bent on destroying not just economic and political paradigms, but a higher education system that really did make America great.
Every empire, real or imagined, builds monuments to progress.
The Nazi regime was developing a colossal science center as part of Hitler’s great Germania project for Berlin, only for war to intervene. It was buried in rubble under an artificial hill, where the victorious Allies eventually built a listening post instead.
In 2010, the Skolkovo Foundation built a glistening tech hub in the west of Moscow, as the Kremlin’s answer to Silicon Valley. Much of it now lies empty, with the war in Ukraine and economic sanctions putting paid to that dream.
Political power has been projected through science since the time of the ancients. But when scholars’ ability to work freely is threatened, they depart — as happened under Nazi rule, during the Soviet period and, in recent years, as President Vladimir Putin has consolidated his stranglehold over the Russian Federation.
Over the 20th and early 21st century, most of these scholars fled to the U.S. — a land that encouraged research without fear or favor. No matter its other failings, people from all over the world flocked there to take up opportunities at unrivaled universities. But now, thanks to President Donald Trump and his rapid-fire assault on the country’s higher education institutions, a reverse brain drain has begun.
And much of it is headed for the continent he seemingly abhors — Europe.
These scholars aren’t leaving just out of choice. As funding is summarily removed, home-grown scholars and researchers are finding themselves out of jobs, and entire departments are closing. Meanwhile, foreign academics, many who have made the U.S. their home, are being kicked out or refused entry, often on spurious grounds, or are in fear it will happen to them.
Margaret McFall-Ngai, a biochemist at the California Institute of Technology, described the situation as “grim and getting grimmer.” Highlighting one of many cases, she spoke of “an American student who is amazing in every way, but the universities are either closing their programs for this year or are trimming down dramatically, so she has nowhere to go. I sent her CV to colleagues in Europe, and she’ll be heading over to Max-Planck in Germany to do her graduate work,” she said.
And this isn’t an isolated incident. Of the 690 postgraduate researchers who responded to a poll in the publication Nature, 548 said they were considering leaving the U.S. One even responded: “This is my home, I really love my country, but a lot of my mentors have been telling me to get out, right now.”
Moreover, as McFall-Ngai pointed out, there are countless stories of international students frightened to leave the U.S.: “I have grad students and postdocs who are Slovenian, Belgian, Portuguese, French, Austrian, Mexican, Chinese and Irish.” Several, she said, wanted to go on vacation to see their families, “but they were told they would not be able to re-enter the U.S. if they left.”
So far, firings have taken place at institutions including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The National Institutes of Health — the world’s largest funder of biomedical research — was forced to jettison 1,200 employees and put grant reviews on hold, essentially turning off funding for labs. And as the cuts are coming, some federal agencies have been required to remove terms deemed unacceptably “woke,” such as diversity, gender and climate science from their websites.
But for Europeans and Canadians, still reeling from the open contempt the Trump administration holds them in, revenge is a dish best served cold.
Thirteen EU member countries, including France and Germany, have already written to Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation Ekaterina Zakharieva, urging increased funding and infrastructure to attract migrating scientists. And French Minister of Higher Education and Research Philippe Baptiste called for a “swift and robust response” to the “collective madness” of these decisions.
Several universities across Europe have gone on a recruitment drive, finding new pockets of funding to bring in specific individuals. France’s Aix Marseille University earmarked €15 million for 15 three-year positions as part of its new Safe Place for Science program, and the university says it’s receiving a dozen applications a day from “scientific asylum seekers.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/uni...mic-freedom-research-innovation-donald-trump/
The White House appears hell-bent on destroying not just economic and political paradigms, but a higher education system that really did make America great.
Every empire, real or imagined, builds monuments to progress.
The Nazi regime was developing a colossal science center as part of Hitler’s great Germania project for Berlin, only for war to intervene. It was buried in rubble under an artificial hill, where the victorious Allies eventually built a listening post instead.
In 2010, the Skolkovo Foundation built a glistening tech hub in the west of Moscow, as the Kremlin’s answer to Silicon Valley. Much of it now lies empty, with the war in Ukraine and economic sanctions putting paid to that dream.
Political power has been projected through science since the time of the ancients. But when scholars’ ability to work freely is threatened, they depart — as happened under Nazi rule, during the Soviet period and, in recent years, as President Vladimir Putin has consolidated his stranglehold over the Russian Federation.
Over the 20th and early 21st century, most of these scholars fled to the U.S. — a land that encouraged research without fear or favor. No matter its other failings, people from all over the world flocked there to take up opportunities at unrivaled universities. But now, thanks to President Donald Trump and his rapid-fire assault on the country’s higher education institutions, a reverse brain drain has begun.
And much of it is headed for the continent he seemingly abhors — Europe.
These scholars aren’t leaving just out of choice. As funding is summarily removed, home-grown scholars and researchers are finding themselves out of jobs, and entire departments are closing. Meanwhile, foreign academics, many who have made the U.S. their home, are being kicked out or refused entry, often on spurious grounds, or are in fear it will happen to them.
Margaret McFall-Ngai, a biochemist at the California Institute of Technology, described the situation as “grim and getting grimmer.” Highlighting one of many cases, she spoke of “an American student who is amazing in every way, but the universities are either closing their programs for this year or are trimming down dramatically, so she has nowhere to go. I sent her CV to colleagues in Europe, and she’ll be heading over to Max-Planck in Germany to do her graduate work,” she said.
And this isn’t an isolated incident. Of the 690 postgraduate researchers who responded to a poll in the publication Nature, 548 said they were considering leaving the U.S. One even responded: “This is my home, I really love my country, but a lot of my mentors have been telling me to get out, right now.”
Moreover, as McFall-Ngai pointed out, there are countless stories of international students frightened to leave the U.S.: “I have grad students and postdocs who are Slovenian, Belgian, Portuguese, French, Austrian, Mexican, Chinese and Irish.” Several, she said, wanted to go on vacation to see their families, “but they were told they would not be able to re-enter the U.S. if they left.”
So far, firings have taken place at institutions including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The National Institutes of Health — the world’s largest funder of biomedical research — was forced to jettison 1,200 employees and put grant reviews on hold, essentially turning off funding for labs. And as the cuts are coming, some federal agencies have been required to remove terms deemed unacceptably “woke,” such as diversity, gender and climate science from their websites.
But for Europeans and Canadians, still reeling from the open contempt the Trump administration holds them in, revenge is a dish best served cold.
Thirteen EU member countries, including France and Germany, have already written to Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation Ekaterina Zakharieva, urging increased funding and infrastructure to attract migrating scientists. And French Minister of Higher Education and Research Philippe Baptiste called for a “swift and robust response” to the “collective madness” of these decisions.
Several universities across Europe have gone on a recruitment drive, finding new pockets of funding to bring in specific individuals. France’s Aix Marseille University earmarked €15 million for 15 three-year positions as part of its new Safe Place for Science program, and the university says it’s receiving a dozen applications a day from “scientific asylum seekers.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/uni...mic-freedom-research-innovation-donald-trump/
