I’m here because of science, from the antibiotics that stopped my childhood illnesses to the science teachers who set me on my path as a plant biologist. Science has historically been non-partisan, with all ends of the political spectrum agreeing that we should fight diseases like cancer and learn how the world around us works. Now, the federal funding agencies that make all this science possible are under threat.

The Trump administration budget proposal for FY 2026 would cut the National Science Foundation (NSF) budget by 55% and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget by 43%, stripping away research funding. And grant terminations for work in progress are eliminating jobs, halting clinical trials and stalling life-saving scientific advancement.

Maryland is home to notable academic research institutions like Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland System, making federal funding terminations detrimental. In FY 2024, Maryland institutions were awarded $2.43 billion in NIH grants, yielding over a two-fold return of $5.3 billion of economic activity.

As a kid growing up in Baltimore County, I fell in love with science by watching birds along the Gunpowder River and visiting turtles at Oregon Ridge Nature Center. After graduating from Hereford High, I enrolled as a biology major at the University of Maryland-College Park. There, I joined an NSF-supported lab to study genes that help strawberry flowers develop into fruits.

Funding science like this is an investment in the future. The findings from our study might help us produce fruits despite heat or lack of pollinators, improve food security and be applied to other crops besides strawberries. One in three Marylanders faces food insecurity, and studying how crops produce food could help us grow more food with fewer resources. To meet tomorrow’s challenges, from feeding the world to curing emerging diseases, we need a solid understanding of how our crops, bodies and environments work.

That foundation comes from fundamental research projects. This translation from fundamental research, which explores how things work, to real-world solutions has happened many times before: Take this study from a UMD lab of a mosquito fungus that may give us another tool in the fight against malaria, or studies of Gila monster venom that led to the diabetes and weight loss medication Ozempic.

In addition to scientific research, science funding helps build the next workforce generation through training students and professionals in lab skills, coding and communication. In the lab, we work through the challenges of doing experiments no one has ever done before. As an NSF-funded scientist working on plant genetics, I’ve worked alongside trainees who go on to teach, run their own labs or pursue fields like veterinary medicine and computer science. Research trains students as problem-solvers, and they keep solving problems after they leave the lab.

Scientific research offers direct benefits for Marylanders. The NIH funds clinical trials for diseases like Alzheimer’s, which impacts over 127,000 Marylanders. When patients agree to a clinical trial, they take a chance that an experimental treatment might help them and others, but with unknown risks and side effects.

Patients taking experimental drugs need monitoring and care to mitigate these risks, but many clinical trials have been suddenly ended due to grant terminations. This deprives patients of the possible benefit of a new treatment while elevating their risk. Stopping a clinical trial also wastes the taxpayer dollars that were already spent on the project, without learning which treatments are safe and effective. We all bear a cost when these treatments can’t become widely available because of these abrupt cancellations.

With numerous clinical trials based at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore is a powerhouse in biomedical research. Hopkins researchers are figuring out how to detect cancer early and treat it better. Hopkins is now facing grant terminations and receiving fewer new grants than last year, leading the university to freeze hiring.

Grant cancellations are not random; they’re politicized. Despite science being historically non-partisan, the Trump administration has targeted projects investigating vaccine misinformation, health disparities and other topics, claiming in termination letters that these projects “no longer effectuate agency priorities.” These projects had already passed rigorous expert peer review. Canceling grants based on conflict with the current administration’s ideology is a disturbing case of government censorship.

Federal funding made my path in science possible. Funding cuts and grant terminations are an attack on science. We need to protect these science funding institutions for the health of our communities. Call your members of Congress to urge them to prioritize science funding in the FY 2026 budget.

Madison Plunkert is a biologist studying plant genetics at Michigan State University. She grew up in Baltimore County.