Federal science funding: It made my dreams come true

As a bright-eyed freshman at Great Neck North High School, I remember walking into my physics class with a boom box, Mozart and Destiny’s Child CDs, and a stopwatch. I was determined to test my scientific hypothesis of whether playing classical or hip-hop music enhances one’s ability to solve math problems. As I pressed play on my clunky CD player, I looked forward to writing up my results for my science research class.

I confess that I do not remember the exact results of that experiment. (Sorry, Mr. Schorn!) Yet, as a native Long Islander born to immigrant parents, this invaluable exposure laid the foundation for my current career in science and higher education. Eager to learn more about research, I spent my high school summers at the Garcia Center for Polymers at Stony Brook University — an outstanding program funded by the National Science Foundation. There, I discovered my passion for using advanced technologies to make important discoveries in basic science, such as using microscopes and optical lasers to quantify the properties of polymers or investigating whether nanoparticles could enhance fuel cell storage. During my high school years, these discoveries were recognized by the Siemens and Intel national science competitions.

I continued my scientific journey as an undergrad at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I worked in a cognitive neuroscience lab and used brain imaging to study how children’s brains with developmental dyslexia differ from those without. After completing my PhD at Washington University in St. Louis, where I worked to understand how motivational signals in the brain impact how we make decisions, I returned to my East Coast roots. As a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University, my research is supported by the National Institutes of Health and aims to understand how stress and decision-making impact mental health.

I am a scientist because of public institutions supported by federal funding from agencies like the NSF and NIH. I hope to have a lifelong career in science where I can continue to study important questions about the brain and understand its relevance to mental health issues and neurological diseases, such as depression and Alzheimer’s. I also care deeply about mentoring the next generation of scientists to continue this important work.

I understand that science is not a perfect process, but I worry about the irreparable harm to research institutions arising from proposed funding cuts, the firing last month of more than 5,000 probationary workers from the Department of Health and Human Services, and the abrupt cancellation of NIH’s Summer Internship Program which provides opportunities for thousands of high school and undergraduate students. These changes likely will impact the scientific workforce and those who benefit from our discoveries, which are crucial for developing treatments and cures. What is evident, however, is that scientific enterprise has always tried to serve the public good.

The United States is a global leader in science and technology precisely because our scientific institutions create incredible opportunities for scientists to flourish and contribute to groundbreaking research. In 2023, New York alone received $3.59 billion in NIH funding to support $7.97 billion in economic activity and 29,000 jobs, and $568 million from NSF to support research, STEM education, and businesses in New York. Without the continued infrastructure to support innovative science, we risk losing a future generation of budding young scientists who dare to dream about changing the world — one boom box at a time.

This guest essay reflects the views of Debbie Yee, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University.