I am a 4th-year PhD candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology at Kansas State University. I grew up exploring the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and Capitol Reef National Park with my parents, who are attorneys in my hometown of Salt Lake City. I spent my childhood learning in bird and nature camps at the Tracy Aviary and the University of Utah, and spent vacations completing all the “Junior Ranger” programs I could find at our five famous national parks. After a post-college career in HIV research, I returned to my childhood dream of understanding more about birds: why they do the things they do, and how we can help protect them.
The Trump administration has obliterated many job prospects available to me in a year when I graduate from my PhD program. I had planned to apply to a program funded by the National Science Foundation that supports post-doctoral scholars, but my close friend funded by this program just lost her salary due to the government chaos, and her partner lost his job at the National Science Foundation. My colleagues have been fired from their dream jobs with the U.S. Forest Service — jobs for which they trained at universities for 10 years — and my lab mate is expecting to lose pay this summer due to the hiring freeze.
Immense amounts of governmental money spent on training me will go to waste when I seek opportunities outside of the country because opportunities are limited here. Over the past four years, I have been funded for $29,392 a year through the U.S. Department of Education, benefitting from a program that supports graduate education in states needing scientific expertise.
The actions of Project 2025 and the DOGE have spectacularly wasted money that has already been invested in tomorrow’s scientists. My peers and I are planning on finding careers elsewhere not for lack of concern for our country, but due to a lack of stable opportunities in the years to come. Those who are concerned about “governmental waste” should consider the short-sighted actions of this administration. Instigating a national brain drain and compromising our global standing hardly seems to be efficient.
Thank you for your time,
Kristen S. Hobbs, Manhattan, Kansas
![(Photo courtesy of Valerie Hamaker via Religion News Service) Nathan and Valerie Hamaker, co-hosts of the popular “Latter Day Struggles” podcast, have resigned their membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In a livestream Wednesday, Valerie explained that "as paradoxical as it may seem, it's because we care about this [faith] tradition that we are opening our mouths.”](https://www.sltrib.com/resizer/v2/7O7343CT2BDQDHODE2UJCSGVYI.jpg?auth=f79527b0639685af42e3f3ba6105184c4784821d8f85033e9be34ea500cbd3b9&width=111&quality=88)
