In April, the Trump administration announced a freeze on $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University. President Donald Trump stated his intention to instigate change at Harvard and other prominent universities across the US, claiming they had been overtaken by leftist “woke” ideology and turned into centers of antisemitism.
Some of the grants were used for military-specific medical research, initiatives aimed at combating weapons of mass destruction, and research on lasers, among many other topics, according to findings by Reuters.
This sudden cessation halted years-long projects and disrupted programs not only at Harvard but across various universities. In 2025 alone, approximately 103 grants totaling around $14 million are projected to come to a stop, based on an analysis by Govini, a defense software company.
For instance, US officials recently terminated a $6 million Pentagon-funded project led by Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Professor Katia Bertoldi, which focused on developing shape-changing structures for military purposes, even though it was at a pivotal point in its research timeline.
“We’ve been in year three, so we established all the tools, we’re really gaining momentum, and now it stops,” Bertoldi remarked.
Funded through the Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, she was working on technology based on origami that aimed to produce reconfigurable antennas and deployable structures like field hospitals.
Since 2020, the Pentagon, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and every branch of the US military have awarded Harvard 418 grants worth $180 million, according to Govini’s analysis.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated that he “directed the termination of several programs, contracts, and grants that were not aligned with the Department’s priorities to reduce unnecessary spending, implement the President’s directives, and reallocate savings to mission-critical areas,” a Pentagon spokesperson informed Reuters.
The majority of these grants were allocated to military medical research, basic scientific research, and applied scientific research, with the Army being the most significant source of funding.
The administration has frozen around $3 billion in federal grants to Harvard, with Trump expressing concern on Truth Social that Harvard employed “Democrats, Radical Left idiots, and ‘bird brains’” as professors. Recently, Trump indicated he might redirect billions of previously awarded scientific and engineering research grants from Harvard to trade schools.
In response to the funding cuts, Harvard has filed a lawsuit to restore the funding, claiming the actions constitute an unconstitutional attack on its free-speech rights.
The cancellations of the research projects impact extensive collaborative networks. Bertoldi’s project involved researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Georgia Tech.
Scientists are warning that these funding cuts could have strategic consequences, especially as China has made substantial investments in research.
Bertoldi noted, “In China, from what I understand, colleagues who returned have received significant support for this type of research.”
