Breaking News: More than 1,218 members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), including 61 Nobel laureates and 46 recipients of the National Medal of Science, this week signed a letter urging Congress to reject the FY26 science budget cuts that threaten U.S. leadership in science, health, and national security. The letter was delivered on July 16, 2025. The link to the video is at https://youtu.be/Vkv0vI6jCnM.
The letter project, led by UC Davis Distinguished Professor and NAS member Walter Leal followed a webinar that he coordinated and produced. The webinar, titled "Beyond the Headlines, The Invisible Power of Academic Research in America," featured Nobel Laureates discussing the importance of scientific research; the crucial need for federal funding; and the far-reaching consequences that could occur if Congress slashed the proposed FY26 science budget, including the risk of long-term economic decline. The link to the webinar is at https://youtu.be/Tq5-vBrSDYc
Executive Summary of Webinar
"America’s scientific strength is not just a line item in a budget—it is a strategic national asset. Protect it. Invest in it. Lead with it."
Detailed Summary of Webinar
"For over 80 years, the partnership between the U.S. federal government and its research universities has been a cornerstone of American innovation, public health, and national security. This collaboration, launched by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and formalized in Vannevar Bush’s 1945 report Science--The Endless Frontier, created a science funding system that led to transformative discoveries in medicine, technology, agriculture, and defense. It helped the U.S. become the global leader in science and innovation.
"Today, that legacy is under threat.
"What’s at Stake? The proposed FY26 federal budget includes devastating cuts:
- 50 percent cut to National Science Foundation
- 40 percent cut to National Institutes of Health
- Drastic reductions to U. S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, and Department of Energy science programs
- Cap on indirect cost recovery at 15 percent, far below the actual cost of administering federally funded research (See news story on Department of Entomology and Nematology website).
Reflecting today (July 16) on the proposed budget cuts, Leal, a member of the UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology faculty and a former chair of the Department of Entomology, said: "These cuts would not only jeopardize individual research projects—they would destabilize the entire research enterprise, diminish U.S. competitiveness, and cause a brain drain as top scientists seek opportunities abroad. We cannot afford to remain on the sidelines as Vannevar Bush’s 80-year-old blueprint for American scientific leadership is effectively being dismantled. This isn’t about replacing it with a new strategy; it’s about watching a proven partnership, one that has driven our economy and enabled transformative breakthroughs in medicine, technology, agriculture, and national defense, being steadily undermined."
"The United States," Leal pointed out, "cannot sustain its global leadership in science and innovation while drastically cutting funding for research and indirect cost recovery. Universities cannot, and should not, be expected to subsidize federally funded research by diverting resources intended for education."
Among the UC Davis faculty signing the letter as of July 16:
Walter S. Leal, PhD, Distinguished Professor, UC Davis; Member of National Academy of Sciences (61); Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the California Academy of Sciences; Corresponding Member, Brazilian Academy of Sciences; Honorary Fellow, Royal Entomological Society; and Honorary Member, Entomological Society of America
Andreas Baumler, PhD, Distinguished Professor, UC Davis; Member of the National Academy of Sciences, Section IV; and Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and the German National Academy of Sciences. Recipient of the Robert Koch Award.
Pamela Ronald PhD, Distinguished Professor, UC Davis; Member of National Academy of Sciences (62), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and the French Academy of Agriculture. Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Recipient of the Wolf Prize in Agriculture, Vinfuture Prize for female innovators, Stanford President’s Prize for the Advancement of the Common Good, USDA National Research Initiative Discovery Award, Tech Award for the Innovative Use of Technology to Benefit Humanity, and Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations' World Agricultural Prize Laureate, Recipient of Honorary Doctorates from the Swedish Agricultural University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Deborah Delmer, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, UC Davis; Member of National Academy of Sciences (62); and Recipient of the Anselme Payen Award for Excellence in the Field of the Structure and Chemistry of Cellulose from the American Chemical Society.
Kate Scow, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emerita of Soil Science and Microbial Ecology, UC Davis; Member of National Academy of Sciences (62, 63); Member of National Academy of Engineering (11); and Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America.
J. Anthony Tyson, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy, UC Davis; Member of National Academy of Sciences (12, 13), Member of the American Philosophical Society, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow o the American Physical Society. D.Sc. University of Chicago.
Venkatesan Sundaresan, PhD, Distinguished Professor, UC Davis; Member of the National Academy of Sciences (25); Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and 2024 Wolf Prize Laureate in Agriculture.
Savithramma P Dinesh-Kumar, PhD, Distinguished Professor, UC Davis; Member of National Academy Of Sciences (62); and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Johanna Schmitt, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emerita, UC Davis; Member of the National Academy of Sciences (27, 25), American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences; Past President, American Society of Naturalists, Past President of Society for the Study of Evolution; Alexander von Humboldt Research Award; and Molecular Ecology Prize.
Richard Michelmore, PhD, Professor, UC Davis; Member, National Academy of Sciences (62), and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Ph.D., Doc.Sc. (hon). Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, UC Davis; Member of National Academy of Sciences (51); Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Fellow of American Philosophical Society; Fellow of California Academy of Sciences; Recpient of the Staley Prize from School of Advanced Research; NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing; and Howells Prize from American Anthropological Association.
Luca Comai, PhD, Distinguished Professor, UC Davis; Member of National Academy of Sciences (62); and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Susan Harrison, PhD, Professor and Chair of Environmental Science and Policy, UC Davis; and Member, National Academy of Sciences (63).
John Clark Lagarias, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, UC Davis; Member of the National Academy of Sciences (Section 25), and Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists.
Michael Turelli, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Genetics, UC Davis; National Academy of Sciences (27, 26), American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Guggenheim Fellow
Harris A. Lewin, PhD, Research Professor, Global Futures Laboratory, Arizona State University; Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Evolution and Ecology, UC Davis; Professor Emeritus of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Founding Director, Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2003-2011); Vice Chancellor for Research, UC Davis (2011-2016); Member of National Academy of Sciences (61,27); and Foreign Member, Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. Recipient of Wolf Prize in Agriculture (2011); Lowell Thomas Award for Conservation Genetics, Explorers Club (2022). Chair of The Earth BioGenome Project (2018-present).
Blake Meyers, PhD, Distinguished Professor, The Genome Center and Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis; Member of the National Academy of Sciences (62, 25), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists.
Tilahun Yilma, DVM, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Virology Emeritus, UC Davis; Member of National Academy of Sciences; and Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology
Bruce D. Hammock, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Entomology and Nematology and Comprehensive Cancer Center, UC Davis; Member, National Academy of Sciences (61). Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the Entomological Society of America and Caliornia Academy of Sciences. Recipient of first McGiff Memorial Awardee in Lipid Biochemistry; and the Bernard B. Brodie Award in Drug Metabolism, sponsored by the America Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. Recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award and the Faculty Research Lectureship and the 2020 UC Davis Lifetime Achievement Award from UC Davis Chancellor Gary May. Former Director of the UC Davis Superfund Research Program (funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) for nearly four decades, supporting scores of pre- and postdoctoral scholars in interdisciplinary research in five different colleges and graduate groups on campus.