Harvard’s $2.6b of grants canceled by the government

For NYT’s the Upshot, Emily Badger, Aatish Bhatia, and Ethan Singer accounted for 900+ canceled federal grants and describe how the cancelations break the feedback loop of government-funded research.

The money the government sends to Harvard is, in effect, not a subsidy to advance the university’s mission. It’s a payment for the role Harvard plays in advancing the research mission of the United States.

This is the science model the U.S. has developed over 80 years: The government sets the agenda and funds the work; university scientists design the studies and find the answers. The president’s willingness to upend that model has revealed its fragility. There is no alternative in the U.S. to produce the kind of scientific advancements represented by these grants.

A tour through a treemap highlights specific grants and an interactive version at the end lets you poke around.