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Trump's Science Adviser Calls For Return To 'gold-standard' Research To Kickstart Stalled Advances

President Trump's science adviser, Michael Kratsios, called for a return to reproducible and transparent research to kickstart what he characterized as years of stalled scientific progress, in his first detailed public remarks on science policy since taking office in March.

Kratsios, who heads the Office of Science and Technology Policy, said on Monday that biomedical research budgets have risen sharply since the 1990s and contributed to breakthroughs such as CRISPR, a gene-editing technology that's now the basis for a sickle cell therapy. But he also said that this increase in federal dollars hasn't led to an overall rise in new drug approvals, adding that studies have found that scientific advancements have become increasingly incremental.

"This evidence of a scientific slowdown should spur us to experiment with new systems, new models, new ways of funding, conducting, and using science," Kratsios said during a speech at the National Academy of Sciences. "Spending more money on the wrong things is far worse than spending less money on the right things."

He attributed the problem to researchers deviating from what he called gold-standard science. Such work, Kratsios said, "is structured for falsifiability, subject to unbiased peer review, accepting of negative results as positive outcomes, and closed to conflicts of interest."

He added that promoting such research will be a point of emphasis for OSTP during his tenure, though he did not describe specific steps the office will take. Kratsios did say that OSTP will work to reduce the administrative burdens federally funded researchers deal with to free them up to focus on science rather than "bureaucratic box checking."

Kratsios' remarks come during a time of unprecedented disruption for the scientific community, with the federal government freezing funding to some universities, terminating grants that it deems in conflict with its political agenda, and laying off thousands of employees across scientific agencies such as the National Institutes of Health.

As OSTP director, Kratsios' tasks include offering input on the federal research budget and coordinating the scientific activities of various government agencies. The Trump administration recently requested a 26% cut to the Department of Health and Human Services' discretionary budget, including an $18 billion cut to NIH. When asked about the proposed reductions by National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt after his remarks, Kratsios stressed the importance of spending federal dollars wisely. "I think we're at a very important moment in time where we need to be sort of resetting the way that we think about spending in a lot of these science agencies. And what [the U.S. DOGE Service] has been able to show and reveal is that there have been large amounts of money that has been spent on things which are clearly not in the national interests," he said. Kratsios pointed to research related to diversity, equity, and inclusion as an example, arguing that such work "represents an existential threat to the real diversity of thought that forms the foundation of the scientific community." He also suggested that private funders of science could play a larger role in supporting basic research as the federal government looks to tighten its belt. For instance, he said, industry could help fund the construction of research facilities at universities. That's a sharp contrast from the arguments of many academic institutions, which have stressed that the federal government's role in covering facilities and administrative costs is irreplaceable, and that the administration's plan to cap such payments at 15% would grind scientific progress to a halt. While Kratsios did not point to specific examples of what gold-standard science is, he highlighted examples of what it isn't. One was a 2009 Nature study co-authored by Marc Tessier-Lavigne, at the time a top researcher at Genentech, which described an interaction between two proteins that causes neurons to die or lose their connections with one another. The widely cited finding fueled hopes for new ways to treat Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, but in the ensuing years, other researchers were unable to replicate key experiments and scientific sleuths found that the study contained manipulated images. The study was retracted in 2023 after a Stanford investigation found that Tessier-Lavigne, the university's then-president, had not engaged in research misconduct but failed to "decisively and forthrightly" correct this study and others. Stanford president to resign after investigation finds he failed to 'decisively and forthrightly' correct research

Kratsios did not name Tessier-Lavigne, but the reference was unmistakable. The OSTP director noted that the 2009 paper "racked up over 800 citations, misdirected huge quantities of money, and helped the researcher become the president of a premier university." He added that this "painful episode" underscored the importance of ensuring that published science is reproducible, and he implied that this would be a funding priority going forward.

"If the government funds more reproducibility research, there will be more reproducibility research," said Kratsios, who also called for a broader change in the culture of science away from solely rewarding researchers for publishing splashy findings in top-tier journals.

Since Franklin D. Roosevelt, nearly every president has had a science adviser with a research background. Kratsios is an exception. Before joining the administration, the 38-year-old technologist was the managing director of Scale AI, a Bay Area company that creates data for training large language models. In the lead-up to Trump's inauguration, science policy experts had a concern: Whether Kratsios could be an effective and strong advocate for the needs of the biomedical research community.

But Kratsios, who was confirmed by the Senate in March by a 74-25 vote, has drawn bipartisan support and is seen as relatively uncontroversial among Trump's appointees. During the president's first term, he served as the administration's chief technology officer and was mainly focused on artificial intelligence and quantum computing policy. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, he spearheaded the White House's formation of a network of federal agencies and academic institutions to make supercomputers available to researchers looking to develop treatments and vaccines.

There are growing signs that amid the disruption to research in recent months, some scientists are seriously considering leaving the U.S., including an analysis of jobs-board data by Nature. When asked about whether Trump policies could spark a scientific brain drain, Kratsios was unequivocally optimistic.

"There's not much I can do for folks exhibiting irrational behavior. But I do believe that the United States, by far, is the best place to conduct research and to ultimately commercialize that research," he said. "And there is no study in the world that I find is remotely credible that will ever challenge that today. We know we're best."

Innovation Funds Support Advances In AI, Bioengineering, Materials Science, More

Princeton Engineering researchers are combining their expertise in chemical engineering, materials and computation to design crystalline materials that can be used to mitigate pollution or make sustainable cements. In bioengineering, another project aims to unravel how dormant bacteria resist antibiotics and incite intractable infections.

These are among 21 projects funded by the latest round of innovation grants from the School of Engineering and Applied Science, totaling more than $3 million. Since 2008, innovation awards have enabled engineering faculty members to take their research in bold new directions that address critical issues in technology, health and the environment. The grants often fuel initial discoveries that lead to larger awards from external funding agencies.

Princeton Engineering's Innovation Research Grants come from the University's own resources, including Princeton's endowment and other gifts for initiatives in engineering.

Addy Fund for Excellence in Engineering

The Addy Fund for Excellence in Engineering was established in 2017 by Lydia B. Addy and William M. Addy, a 1982 Princeton alumnus. In 2025 these funds were awarded to:

Reza Moini, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, for the project "'Soft' hard materials by design: Engineering compliance in brittle concrete" (also supported by Project X)

Alejandro Rodriguez, professor of electrical and computer engineering, for the project "Optimal photonic communication: Designs and limits to optical information processing" (also supported by the Katzson Fund and by funds from an anonymous donor)

Dhruv Shah, a visiting research scholar in electrical and computer engineering, for the project "Guiding the robotics data flywheel via epistemic scaling curves"

Associate Research Scholar Aimane Najmeddine and Assistant Professor Reza Moini design materials' internal structures to create flexible mechanisms using normally brittle material like concrete.

Photo by Shashank Gupta

J. Insley Blair Pyne Fund

Established in memory of physics and electrical engineering professor and Princeton graduate J. Insley Blair Pyne, this fund supports research bridging engineering and neuroscience. Blair Pyne funds were awarded to:

Amir Ali Ahmadi, professor of operations research and financial engineering, and Pravesh Kothari, assistant professor of computer science, for the project "AI-assisted algebraic proof systems with engineering applications" (also supported by the James Mi *91 Research Innovation Fund for Data Science and the Yang Family Fund)

Jonathan Cohen, the Robert Bendheim and Lynn Bendheim Thoman Professor in Neuroscience; Tom Griffiths, the Henry R. Luce Professor of Information Technology, Consciousness, and Culture of Psychology and Computer Science; and Margaret Martonosi, the Hugh Trumbull Adams '35 Professor of Computer Science, for the project "A quantum approach to modeling perception, decision making and control"

Kenneth Norman, the Huo Professor in Computational and Theoretical Neuroscience, and Peter Ramadge, the Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor of Engineering and professor of electrical and computer engineering, for the project "Neural mechanisms of how prior knowledge promotes new learning: An OPM-MEG study"

Professor Amir Ali Ahmadi teaching the course "Computing and Optimization for the Physical and Social Sciences."

Photo by

Sameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy

Helen Shipley Hunt Fund

Made possible by Helen Shipley Hunt, who earned a master's degree in mathematics from Princeton in 1971, this fund supports engineering research with a focus on applied projects. Shipley Hunt funds were awarded to:

Christine Allen-Blanchette and Alison Ferris, both assistant professors of mechanical and aerospace engineering, for the project "Toward accelerated sustainable aviation fuel design: A data-driven framework for fuel design and discovery"

Mark Brynildsen, professor of chemical and biological engineering and bioengineering, for the project "Turning a strength into a weakness for Pseudomonas aeruginosa treatments" (also supported by the O'Brien Family Health Research Fund)

Navroz Dubash, professor of public affairs, and Anu Ramaswami, the Sanjay Swani '87 Professor of India Studies and professor of civil and environmental engineering, for the project "Democratizing zero-carbon modeling with metropolitan policy actors in New Jersey and Global South urban regions"

Yasaman Ghasempour, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, for the project "Accurate and computation-efficient digital twin for wireless networks in 6G and beyond"

Rodney D. Priestley, dean of the Graduate School and the Pomeroy and Betty Perry Smith Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, for the project "Hydrophobic self-hardening hydrogels for infrastructure durability and safety"

Researchers Néhémie Guillomaitre and Xiaohui Xu with samples of a recyclable hydrogel they developed as part of a team led by Professor Rodney Priestley.

Project X Fund

Project X funding enables Princeton engineering faculty members to pursue exploratory research geared toward "creativity, tinkering and risk-taking." The fund is made possible by G. Lynn Shostack in honor of her late husband David Gardner, a 1969 Princeton graduate. Project X grants were awarded to:

Joshua Atkinson, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Omenn-Darling Bioengineering Institute, and Jürgen Hackl, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, for the project "Clean water for all: Biosensor enhanced digital twins for water quality management"

Luc Deike, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the High Meadows Environmental Institute, and Martin Wühr, associate professor of molecular biology and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, for the project "Unveiling the physics behind electrospray ionization to engineer more sensitive and quantitative mass spectrometry"

Ning Lin, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Michael Oppenheimer, the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs and the High Meadows Environmental Institute, for the project "Adaptive flood protection design for climate adaptation"

Marcella Lusardi, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering and the Princeton Materials Institute, Andrew Rosen, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, and Claire White, professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, for the project "A combined experimental and computational approach for accelerated zeolite discovery via pre-nucleation building units" (also supported by the David T. Wilkinson Innovation Fund and by funds from an anonymous donor)

Aditya Sood, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Princeton Materials Institute, for the project "On-chip photo-switches for ultrafast electrical stimulation" (also supported by the Morton and Donna Collins Fund and the Samberg Family Fund)

Additional Engineering Research Funds

Princeton's Center for the Decentralization of Power Through Blockchain Technology (DeCenter) has funded grants to Maria Apostolaki, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, for the project "Routing security for Ethereum;" and to Andrés Monroy-Hernández, assistant professor of computer science, and Janet Vertesi, associate professor of sociology, for the project "OpenCourier: Designing a decentralized ecosystem of community-owned food delivery platforms."

Yiguang Ju, the Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was awarded funds from an anonymous donor for the project "Plasma-assisted catalytic decomposition of N2O from ammonia oxidation."

Andrew Rosen, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, received support for the project "Democratizing the computational discovery of clean energy materials" from the Wilke Fund for Innovation.

David Wentzlaff, professor of electrical and computer engineering, will pursue the project "The new nuanced Moore's Law" with support from the Samberg Family Fund for Innovative Engineering, established by Deborah and Jeffrey S. Samberg '88.

Nvidia, TSMC And Apple Supplier Foxconn Partner To Develop Taiwan AI Supercomputer

Nvidia Corp. NVDA, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. TSM, and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., better known as Foxconn, announced on Sunday a partnership to build an advanced artificial intelligence supercomputer in Taiwan.

What Happened: The collaboration includes Foxconn's subsidiary Big Innovation Co. Delivering a supercomputer equipped with 10,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, representing one of Asia's most powerful AI computing infrastructures to date.

"AI has ignited a new industrial revolution — science and industry will be transformed," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, at the COMPUTEX technology conference.

The Taiwan National Science and Technology Council will invest in the supercomputer to provide AI cloud computing resources across Taiwan's technology ecosystem. Officials aim to create "an AI-focused industrial ecosystem in southern Taiwan," according to Minister Wu Cheng-Wen.

TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, plans to utilize the system to accelerate semiconductor research and development. "By harnessing advanced AI infrastructure, we empower our researchers to accelerate breakthroughs in semiconductor technology," said C.C. Wei, chairman and CEO of TSMC.

See Also: Peter Schiff Slams Trump's 'Eat The Tariffs' Message To Walmart: He Might As Well Ask It To Eat 'Rent, Wages, Insurance…'

Why It Matters: The system will feature NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra systems, including the NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 rack-scale solution with specialized networking technologies. Big Innovation Cloud will also participate in the NVIDIA DGX Cloud Lepton marketplace, providing enterprises and research institutions access to advanced GPU resources.

This partnership expands on Nvidia's recent global AI initiatives, including planned investments of $500 billion in U.S. AI infrastructure. The company has seen significant market growth, recently re-entering the $3 trillion market capitalization category amid surging demand for AI chips worldwide.

Foxconn plans to apply the supercomputer's capabilities across three core areas: smart cities, electric vehicles, and manufacturing, enhancing Taiwan's technological competitiveness in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

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