I open my laptop and see a new email in my inbox, finally, a reply. It’s from one of the many labs in New York City that I had reached out to, hoping to secure a summer internship. My excitement rises when I recognize their name, a scientist whose research I have read thoroughly and become interested in. My cursor hovers over the subject line. This could be the one. After clicking on the email, I read what I’ve read too many times: “Unfortunately, due to the NIH funding issues, I am not able to accept interns in my lab this summer.”
As we move into our final quarter of the school year, students in Fieldston’s Science Research program are facing challenges in securing their spot in a summer internship. This two-year course introduces students to lab techniques in their sophomore year, and they’re then required to secure a summer internship and complete a research paper in their junior year. But this year, the search is more difficult than we all expected. Federal funding cuts and executive orders under the Trump administration have caused major issues. Many labs are downsizing, shutting down or simply no longer able to accept student interns. For us, that means fewer opportunities, more rejections and a summer of uncertainty.
On January 27, 2025, the Trump administration introduced a controversial policy that capped indirect cost reimbursement for research grants at just 15% of the total expenses at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). This number is significantly lower than the previous rate of 30-60%. The policy was implemented to reduce high government spending, but the additional money given in grants for ‘indirect costs’ typically helps institutions cover expenses such as lab maintenance, utilities and support staff. This sudden change threatens the financial stability of research institutions that rely heavily on federal grants from NIH and NSF. Many are now struggling to keep labs open, pay staff, and continue essential projects. After this policy change, the NIH is estimated to lose $5 billion in federal funding, money that supports research projects across the country.
Dr. Koppa, a science research teacher at Fieldston, explained how these changes directly affect students in the program: “PIs cannot access their grant money or are unsuccessful in their grant applications, which reduces the opportunities that students have for finding a position.” Koppa continued, describing, “Since the projects aren’t running due to funding, labs can’t take high school students.” The way an internship usually works for high school students is that they are assigned to a graduate student’s project. However, since funding that allows graduate students to carry out their projects has been cut, fewer projects are running, and fewer spots and opportunities are available for high school students.
To help science research students in their email sending process, Dr. Koppa has emphasized reaching out to private institutions that are less reliant on federal funding and sending as many emails as possible. “Students this year are sending a lot more emails than is typical.” If a student does not end up with an internship, Mr. Waldman, Dr. Church and Dr. Koppa have been working to make sure that when students return to school in the fall, they will carry out some type of lab-based project in school so that they can complete their junior research with data.
When Dr. Koppa was a grad student, she was only able to complete her PhD project because of an NSF grant. Koppa describes, “If I had wanted to do this project now, that NSF grant would not have come through, and the project would not have happened…. the next generation of scientists is not being supported.”
Fieldston science research students have also expressed their frustration with the process of getting an internship. Yanling Li said, “One of the labs I really wanted to work with, the PI had been working on the project for a long time, and had to shut it down. It’s very frustrating.” Micaela Ramos similarly expressed, “I have gotten so many responses that have said ‘we are not able to do research this year’… It’s just especially difficult to find a lab, and it’s very stressful.” With summer approaching, students in this program are beginning to wonder if they’ll secure a placement in time. Monica Nikolova described, “I’m also not 16 yet, so it’s harder already to get into a lab, and now I am just hoping for anything.”
For many of us in the science research program, this process has been much more challenging than we anticipated. I imagined myself sending a few emails and quickly landing an interview with a PI. But right now, so many opportunities aren’t available, and a lot is out of our control. With every rejection email I receive, I send a new one, hoping that at least one response won’t start with “unfortunately.”
