Bloomberg CityLab reports, the Trump administration’s “multipronged assault on scientific research across an array of fields” has impacted agencies and experts in the transportation field. Government actions over the past six weeks have alarmed researchers and industry experts, and caused concern about the future of the federally supported Transportation Research Board (TRB). Specific administration-triggered actions include:
- dozens of layoffs at USDOT’s Volpe Center and Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and a Department of Energy office focused on vehicle technologies;
- TRB cancellation of at least 14 research projects deemed not to conform to administration edicts on diversity, equity, and inclusion;
- advice to TRB-affiliated researchers to “halt parts of ongoing projects and adjust written language” seen to be in conflict with presidential executive orders; and
- an FHWA directive that its staff ensure that the TRB committees and panels in which they participate comply with Trump administration priorities.
TRB, its parent entity, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and USDOT have not issued public statements about turnover or changes in the direction of research. According to the article, that lack of communication has raised concerns about which projects and fields of research may be at risk. And, “Looking ahead, questions about funding, censorship and data access could push aspiring researchers into other fields, diminishing the quality and quantity of future transportation discoveries.”