Becoming a scientist didn’t always feel within reach. I grew up in Imperial Beach with a loving single mom who did her best with limited resources. With the help of federal need-based grants, I earned a degree in cognitive science at UC San Diego, where I first started studying how childhood experiences shape brain and behavioral development.
Now, as a postdoctoral scientist at Stanford University’s Center on Early Childhood, I research how kids adapt to economic hardship, supported by an NIH grant. At every stage, federal funding has been at the core of expanding opportunities — for my education, my research, and for countless students like me.
But the same doors that opened for me are now closing for others. That’s why the proposed funding cuts to education and science aren’t just policy shifts. They’re threats to opportunity and upward mobility.
The recent dismantling of the Department of Education, which included mass staff layoffs and the freezing of federal education funds, is already threatening programs that help students from low-income communities attend college. Even legally protected funding, like Title I for high-poverty schools, is now in question due to the gutting of the agency responsible for administering it.
In districts like San Diego Unified and Sweetwater Union — where I graduated from Mar Vista High School — students may soon be left wondering whether higher education is even a viable path for them.
Securing a path to higher education is only the first step. For many students, that path leads to careers in science and medicine, which depend on sustained federal investment. Yet recent freezes to NIH created uncertainty for both researchers and the communities that benefit from their work.
UC San Diego, one of the top ten recipients of NIH funding, receives $600 million annually to support research in areas ranging from child development to life-saving cancer treatments. Cutting these resources doesn’t just slow innovation. It affects the very San Diego families these studies aim to serve.
The consequences of this funding instability have been rippling across the scientific community, stifling the pipeline of future researchers and driving talent away. The entire University of California system recently enacted a hiring freeze, greatly restricting opportunities for early-career researchers. Meanwhile, universities across the country are scaling back PhD admissions, shutting more students out of research careers before they even begin.
Cuts to federal research funding will be felt far beyond universities. Some see science as detached from everyday life, but it shapes the world around us. Today’s investments lead to medical breakthroughs, better education, and stronger communities.
They also determine who gets to contribute. Without support for research and education, fewer students — especially those from underfunded schools — will have the opportunity to pursue careers in science and medicine.
When we cut funding, we’re not just stalling research. We’re closing doors for the next generation.
If this matters to you too, talk to your neighbors about it. Contact your representatives. Participate in local school board meetings. Engage in community discussions about investing in future generations.
The future of scientific discovery isn’t just in the hands of policymakers; it’s in ours. We can advocate for funding that keeps opportunities open, research moving forward, and ensures that San Diego remains a place where every student, no matter their background, has the chance to contribute, innovate, and succeed.
Meriah Lee DeJoseph is a postdoctoral scientist at Stanford University and a proud graduate of Mar Vista High School and UC San Diego.
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