Ellen Kuwana, MS’ Post

Having attended several conferences this year, it feels like the same-ol, same-ol, but the conversations in-between sessions, at dinner, in the hallways at the coffee area have been all about the horrible assault on science. Destroying institutions, funding mechanisms, careers. Usually at conferences we're asking about each other's kids, where we've traveled in the year since we've seen each other...this year there's been very little polite small talk. Which is unfortunate, because it's how you get to know someone as a fuller person and find common interests outside of work...what little talk there was about kids centered around college grads who want to go to grad school but can't right now because many universities are not accepting graduate students. Why? Because T-32s training grants that the NIH funded for graduate students and postdocs have been canceled. ("Postdoc" means after a doctorate degree, which is the <3% of people in the U.S. who have a PhD and then do more research to learn even more skills in a laboratory before trying to find a job where they will be an independent researcher). A weight, an overcast, a pall hung over all parts of the conferences I've been to this year. Disbelief has shifted to a profound sadness. Each new assault (with a muttered, "it's just a flesh wound") adds to the deepening hurt, which is hard to describe because it's emotional (concern for others, concern for yourself), physical (how you FEEL anxiety and worry and depression and sadness), and somehow existential (WHO am I if I can't do science?). What can you do? Call your representatives and let them know you support science! #StandUpForScience