Trump cuts threaten Koreans in US academia

Students from universities in Washington, D.C., protest U.S. President Donald Trump's dismantling of and funding cuts to the Department of Education, April 4. Reuters-Yonhap

SEATTLE — J.Y. Kim, who wants to go by her initials for fear of jeopardizing her job search, just finished sending off her 100th resume this morning. After getting a job offer three weeks ago from a small research university in the Midwest, she thought her job hunt was finally over.

"I'm still demoralized and in disbelief that I'm back in this position," Kim said, reading aloud the email rescinding her assistant professor offer during a phone interview with The Korea Times. "The entire letter is about cuts in federal funding."

The Donald Trump administration has cut federal funding to many U.S. universities, including top schools like Harvard and Princeton. These cuts, amounting to billions of dollars, are part of a broader effort to pressure universities to fall in line with the government, especially regarding campus protests and diversity programs.

The funding cuts have put thousands of jobs and research projects at risk, with many job offers even being rescinded, and have led university leaders to warn that academic freedom and independence is in danger.

"I have to find a full-time job within the next two months to maintain legal status in the U.S." Kim said. "With hiring freezes everywhere, this is close to impossible."

The budget cuts, coupled with the Trump administration's stricter immigration rules and visa delays, increase the pressures faced by foreign researchers and students trying to secure stable academic positions in the U.S.

A postdoctoral researcher surnamed Lee said his contract ends this year with no prospect of renewal, so he is now considering going back home to Korea.

"My plan was to do a few more years of post-doc research and hopefully find a permanent job in the U.S.," he said. "But maybe that wasn't meant to be for me. The lab I work at is facing significant budget cuts so it's really unclear, but mostly unlikely that we'll be able to receive the necessary grant to fund our research."

Post-docs are early-career scholars who have earned a Ph.D. and are gaining additional research experience before applying for permanent academic roles.

Many Korean post-docs, along with other international researchers in U.S. academia, are in the same situation as they struggle to secure research and faculty positions.

"Post-docs are stuck in limbo. Even highly qualified scholars can't secure faculty jobs — not because they aren't good enough, but because departments can't commit, and their visa clocks are ticking," says Regina Kim, a member of the National Postdoctoral Association, an advocacy group.

Protesters participate in a march from City College to Columbia University in New York City, Friday. The demonstrators demanded an end to cuts in university funding and an end to ICE enforcement, among other issues. AFP-Yonhap

The future looks bleak even for students still in undergraduate programs, as internship opportunities — key stepping stones toward careers — are drying up.

"My college sophomore son majoring in computer science is struggling to find a summer internship position because most of the professors he reached out to are uncertain about their research and lab funding," one user wrote on MissyUSA, a popular online community for Korean women in the U.S.

Another user added, "My son is finishing up his first year of college, but I'm worried that Trump's policy changes will have a ripple effect on my child's career in the science field."

The Trump administration made deep cuts to funding for science agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), with research on climate change, the environment and global partnerships being especially affected.

Critics express concern about the potential loss of a generation of researchers due to funding cuts and policy changes.

"We invite the smartest, the most brilliant people from all over the world to come to our very best institutions and learn from our best scientists and technologists how to create the future. And we hope that with that enticement, they decide to stay in the United States and grow those technologies and advancements here," said Phillip Alvelda, a scientist and entrepreneur who formerly worked at NASA.

"But now we've got a crackdown on immigration, so that pipeline is shutting down," he told the Institute for New Economic Thinking, a New York-based nonprofit think tank. "Now we've got a crackdown on the funding that allows the universities to employ these students in the first place — to train them, educate them and mentor them through the apprenticeships that teach them how to build these new technologies. So you now have a generation coming into school in the next two, four years at least, who will not have that option."

Jane Han writes as a freelance correspondent for The Korea Times.