Scientists Suffer in Continued Government Shutdown

As the second full week of lapsed funding comes to a close, some 800,000 federal employees are stuck at home, including some biologists.

Written byJef Akst

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The ongoing US federal government shutdown, which began on December 22, is affecting the research community. Grant proposals are no longer being reviewed at the National Science Foundation, and the agency is likely to postpone its evaluations of postdoctoral fellowship applicants, Nature reports. Meanwhile, at least one researcher at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has had to put a hold on hiring new young scientists to his lab. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA are also among the agencies whose “non-essential” employees have been ordered to cease working during this latest budget crisis.

“Any shutdown of the federal government can disrupt or delay research projects, lead to uncertainty over new research, and reduce researcher access to agency data and infrastructure,” American Association for the Advancement of Science CEO Rush Holt tells Chemistry World.

Because Congress has already approved a budget for the ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
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Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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