UC Davis professor speaks out over fear of future funding being slashed
DAVIS — Across the country, federal money funding various research projects is getting slashed by the Trump administration.
Last week, the University of California president announced a system-wide hiring freeze in response to the uncertain future. Now, a UC Davis psychology professor is speaking out in hopes of saving his research grants from being targeted.
Dr. Brian Trainor is on a mission to explain to the public how his students work and research lead to critical treatment for the millions suffering from various stress and anxiety disorders.
"What's become pretty clear to us, here in the lab and I think more generally, is that the average person doesn't know what we're doing," Trainor said.
One of Dr. Trainor's many students working in the lab is Valentina Cea Salazar. She said the work they are doing is more important now than ever before.
"This time that we're living in, it is really stressful," she said. "It is really ironic that we're studying stress-induced disorders during a time when more people are under these conditions."
Their work is centered around how social stress affects how the brain works. Working on finding better solutions for things like anxiety and PTSD. Now, they are worried the years and countless hours of research they've spent investing in this work will be left unfinished.
"So, if a grant is pulled, which is happening across the country right now, that just means the research would stop," Trainor said, adding that their greatest fear is joining universities like Columbia and Johns Hopkins University losing money and staff. "All the things you see here in this lab to keep this running, we need grants."
According to CBS News, Columbia University lost $400 million in grants and contracts because of what the White House described as "the school's continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students."
Other universities are seeing staff cuts over budget concerns and a potential lack of funding.
"Sometimes, the criteria used to cancel the grants oftentimes has nothing to do with the science itself," Trainor said.
Trainor added that he hopes to connect people to the faces of those working to find better mental health solutions. He is worried it won't be enough to keep his research funded and working toward groundbreaking solutions.
"It's the worst time in science, ever in my lifetime," he said.
For graduate student Cea Salazar, losing the ability to keep working in her UC Davis lab would be devastating.
"I have a lot of investment in this career, it would be devastating for all the hard work I have in this career, all of us have put in," she said. "The work really matters, so for me, I'm very passionate about this. I hope I have the ability to keep doing it."
The Trump administration argues that severe federal cuts are necessary to trim federal spending waste across the United States. There is also a list of universities where large-scale pro-Palestinian demonstrations were organized. Davis is included in that list and some fear that could also mean their research programs will be targeted for this reason.
"We know people's tax dollars are being spent. People work hard to get that money. When they pay it to the government, they want to know it's being spent on something worthwhile," Trainor said, noting that every day they get closer to helping millions of people suffering.
