Science Advocates’ Wishlist for the Biden Administration

From immigration reform to climate change amelioration, researchers and science policy advocates share their hopes for 2021 and beyond.

Written byAmanda Heidt

| 6 min read

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Biden administration, Trump administration, science policy, politics, research funding, public health, climate change, NSF, NIH, CDC, EPA

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When President Donald Trump’s administration released its first budget proposal in February 2017, it called for deep funding cuts at several scientific agencies, most notably the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency. Congress ultimately rejected those cuts and instead dedicated more funds to research and development, but it set a precedent for how Trump would prioritize scientific endeavors during the course of his term.

While the last four years have seen a number of scientific successes—the development of COVID-19 vaccines in record time, for example—“the unfortunate thing is that science is often not used in the policymaking process under the Trump administration,” says Jacob Carter, a research scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) who studies scientific integrity.

As President-elect Joe Biden prepares to assume office, scientists are looking ahead to what the next four years may bring. The Scientist spoke ...

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Biden administration, Trump administration, science policy, politics, research funding, public health, climate change, NSF, NIH, CDC

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Meet the Author

Amanda Heidt
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Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
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