Today’s Brain Drain

This brings us to the present day. Under the new Trump administration and its Department of Efficiency, extensive cuts to federal research funding have limited opportunities for young scientists. Postdoctoral positions and fellowships are being eliminated, and labs across U.S. institutions are struggling to afford new researchers and continue their operations. In a New York Times article titled “America’s Brightest Minds Will Walk Away,” published on April 3, 2025, author Neel Patel states: “Those actions could mean America’s demise as the most powerful force for innovation in science, health, and technology for the 21st century.” The journal Nature conducted a poll in which 75 percent of the 1,200 U.S. scientists surveyed said they were considering leaving the United States, drawn to countries like France, China, and the Netherlands.

Of course, we are still in the early stages of Trump’s presidency, and much remains to unfold. However, the administration’s aggressive approach has left many concerned, and it seems likely that we will face a modern-day brain drain. This time, the cause is not the threat of death, but the lack of opportunity and support. This situation hints at a controversy, but it could be argued that the brain drain during WWII to American institutions, such as the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, played a significant role in the United States establishing itself as a central power and innovation hub. Today, the U.S. accounts for 27 percent of the world’s total research and development activity, the most of any nation (Patel, 2025).

From my personal experience as a junior civil engineering student at NYU Tandon, I know numerous students across various disciplines who are interested in pursuing postdoctoral positions. However, with the new cuts and increasing uncertainty surrounding postdoctoral opportunities in the U.S., many of them are now considering programs outside the United States, something they had not considered before. Some have even abandoned the U.S. altogether. Over the long term, this could have an impact similar to the European brain drain during World War II, where scientific contributions abroad, if properly supported, could help the prosperity and living standards of other countries, potentially at the expense of the United States.