Purdue's University Senate addressed the recent revocations of international student visas and denounced federal funding cuts Monday, passing a resolution to join a joint statement with other members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance.
For Montse Robles, the U.S. was just about the only country where she could finish her studies and pursue a Ph.D.
“I come from Mexico, and it was always a huge deal for me to do a Ph.D. here … you're not gonna find another country, I think only Germany, that puts a lot of money into research,” she said.
There was no other country that offered the same stability and investment in research, she said.
But the Trump administration’s aggressive cuts targeting universities and research has changed that. Now Robles is reconsidering her options.
“I want to go to Europe or somewhere else where I know ... it's not going to be all over the air, (and) I don't know what's going to happen in my future."
This is all happening less than 100 days into Trump’s return to the presidency, and his policies have rippled through Purdue.
For decades, funding of university research has been responsible for many scientific and technological advancements — from Ozempic, to mRNA COVID vaccines, to Google — many of these breakthroughs can be traced back to university research with at least some federal funding.
The Trump administration, though, has moved to cancel or freeze billions of dollars in research funds from the National Institutes of Health and has attempted to fire hundreds of National Science Foundation employees. These two government agencies are responsible for doling out almost two thirds of the federal money appropriated to research.
Compared to other schools though, Purdue may be less affected by federal funding cuts.
Graduate students Montse Robles and Izaac Gilchrist are concerned about the future of their research opportunities at Purdue, citing a lack of communication on Purdue’s end.
“Purdue is very fiscally, very conservative, very careful. And we, we have been fortunate, shepherding our financial condition,” said Kumares Sinha, a civil engineering professor.
Purdue only ranked 40th nationwide in federal research and development expenditures in fiscal year 2023, the latest year for which data was available.
In that fiscal year, Purdue spent about $385 million in federal R&D money, according to the National Science Foundation's website. Purdue lags behind many other Big Ten schools in this funding, such as Indiana University and the University of Michigan.
Purdue also lacks a medical school, making it less reliant on NIH funds.
Still, almost $170 million worth of Purdue’s NIH and NSF funding may be on the chopping block, and the specter of cuts has had a broader chilling effect on American science.
In response to the actions taken by the administration, almost 2,000 of America’s leading scientists released an open letter on March 31 describing “a climate of fear” in the research community. That list of scientists included five Purdue faculty members, all of whom are elected members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
“The administration is engaging in censorship,” the letter read. “Researchers, afraid of losing their funding or job security, are removing their names from publications, abandoning studies, and rewriting grant proposals and papers to remove scientifically accurate terms (such as “climate change” ) that agencies are flagging as objectionable. Although some in the scientific community have protested vocally, most researchers, universities, research institutions, and professional organizations have kept silent to avoid antagonizing the administration and jeopardizing their funding.”
One of those signatories, Ronald Latanision, a Neil Armstrong Distinguished Visiting Professor, said he didn’t have “any hesitation in signing this letter,” and while he was involved in the drafting process, he did not have many suggestions because he agreed with “with everything that's said in it.”
Purdue’s engineering department along with the others that recieve federal research funding could face up to $170 million in cuts to NIH and NSF funding.
Latanision explained that he believes universities and researchers are at their best when they can uncover some previously hidden truth of nature, and turn it into something societally valuable.
“That's when we are at our best, and that won't happen when universities are hamstrung by budget cuts and threats of removing budgets because of concerns about language used and proposals and DEI issues,” Latanision said.
Multiple graduate students echoed this sense of fear in the research community.
“No one knows whether a future in science is even feasible in this country anymore,” said Izaak Gilchrist, a Ph.D. student, in an email.
Gilchrist, a member of the Harpur Lab, an entomology lab that does work relating to honey bees, elaborated on her comments in a later group interview with three other Ph.D. students in the same lab.
Despite having for the moment avoided any funding losses, Gilchrist explained, “We are in graduate school to prepare for a career in science, and then (the cuts and layoffs are) opening up this whole question of, will there be careers in science in the United States? Why are we doing all of this work if we don't know that this country values that work anymore?” she said, with murmurs of agreement from the others in the interview.
The uncertainty extends up to faculty members as well, who are similarly in the dark about what may happen.
“Brock (the professor in charge of Harpur Lab) has mentioned that he doesn't know what's going on, so we're just kind of holding, as we have been for right now. We have no direct knowledge of what's coming down the pipes,” said Stephanie Hathaway, another Harpur lab Ph.D. student.
The graduate students interviewed said they had only received one email from Purdue telling them to continue as normal amidst the uncertainty.
“We don't know what goes on behind closed doors,” Gilchrist said.
Purdue has put together a 2025 government transition webpage that tracks what moves the Trump administration is making. The page provides information on orders from various federal agencies and includes specific breakdowns for issues such as DEI.
Four graduate students and a representative from Purdue Graduate Rights & Our Wellbeing, a labor organization that advocates for graduate workers, met with the Exponent to talk about the trouble they’ve had with research funding cuts.
The page also includes four statements providing updates from university leadership regarding how they are approaching the uncertainty.
The most recent update, sent on Feb. 28, says Purdue is planning to reduce external hiring to provide more opportunities for displaced Purdue faculty members. The email also says the university sees this crisis as an opportunity to attract top researchers and Ph.D. students from other institutions.
The email also said that Purdue was planning to accelerate its efforts to gain private sector and philanthropic funding.
The private sector may struggle to fill the government’s shoes though.
“Companies would be much more reluctant to fund the sort of basic research that is so important for driving all research forward,” said Clint ChappTle, another of the open letter’s signatories.
“We are not for profit. We are for knowledge,” said Sinha, who also signed the letter.
Purdue did not comment for this story and instead directed queries to the transition webpage.
Mung Chiang, though, at a University senate meeting in March, said, “The Purdue team continues to closely track the situation at both the federal and state levels as actions impact us and hundreds of public and private universities across all states,” Chiang said. “There continue to be many questions that we don't know the answers to and we cannot execute on hypothetical directives that have not been given to us.”
Though Purdue has already scaled back or eliminated some programs, trustee Gary Lehman said at a board of trustees meeting on April 4 that large-scale cuts shouldn't be expected any time soon.
"We're in the best position a university could be," he said, not elaborating on what programs have already been cut.
Sinha feels that everything transpiring is deeply hurtful to America.
“What is going on right now — attacking universities — we are really cutting our own legs,” he said.