NSF Restarts Some Funding for 4 Top Universities After Nearly 2-Month Freeze
Updated
Updated · AIP.ORG · Jun 1
NSF Restarts Some Funding for 4 Top Universities After Nearly 2-Month Freeze
3 articles · Updated · AIP.ORG · Jun 1
Summary
Some NSF money has started flowing again to Duke, Harvard, Princeton and Yale after the agency held ongoing and new research funding for nearly two months, according to Nature and the New York Times.
About 85% of the affected proposals were in math, physical sciences and engineering, including several tied to quantum information science, indicating the freeze hit core research programs rather than a narrow set of grants.
The disruption comes as the Trump administration pushes a broader rule letting political appointees review all discretionary federal awards before issuance and terminate grants deemed misaligned with agency priorities or "anti-American values."
That proposal would also favor institutions with lower indirect-cost rates, tighten foreign-collaboration and risk-screening rules, and bar awards from supporting DEI or gender ideology—deepening alarm among science groups and congressional Democrats.