By Ethan Faverino |
Arizona State University (ASU) has lost 27 grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) so far this year, worth approximately $28.5 million. Many of the grants were tied to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
These cuts, part of a broader shift in NSF priorities under the Trump administration, target projects with DEI-related terms like, “equitable,” “underrepresented,” and “racial.”
Among the affected grants were five ASU projects, previously assigned $7,659,588, which heavily emphasize DEI.
Grant Number 2315041 ($2,404,767) funded Collaborative Research: Black Girls as Creators: an intersectional learning ecosystem toward gendered racial equity in Artificial Intelligence education. Running from October 2023 to September 2028 (terminated April 18, 2025), it supported after-school and summer camps for black girls aged 9-14 to collaborate with AI creators, focusing on intersectionality and racial equity.
Grant Number 2411987 ($733,633) funded Positioning Engineering Faculty to Support Black Engineering Graduate Students through Awareness, Knowledge, Capacity Building, and Community. Starting September 2024 and ending August 2029 (terminated April 25, 2025), it trained faculty at ASU and George Mason University in antiracist orientations using virtual reality simulations to address systemic barriers for black graduate students, prioritizing competency over technical skills.
Grant Number 1824260 ($2,999,743) funded an ADVANCE Institutional Transformation project from September 2018 to August 2025 (terminated May 2, 2025), aimed to reshape faculty policies for gender equity and intersectionality, potentially undermining merit-based standards.
Grant Number 2101039 ($931,058) funded Collaborative Research: Accessible Computational Thinking in Elementary Science Classes within and across Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Contexts, ran from August 2021 to July 2025 (terminated April 25, 2025). It trained 60 elementary school teachers in “Culturally Relevant Teaching” for diverse students, which compromised core STEM content.
Grant Number 2236374 ($590,387) funded Increasing the Effectiveness of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion-Focused Institutional Change Teams through a Community of Transformation, ran from April 2023 to April 2025 (terminated April 18, 2025). It supported a “Community of Transformation” for JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) change agents, emphasizing change over academic standards.
These cancellations align with NSF’s new priorities to avoid projects that prioritize certain groups, as appromixately 94% of canceled grants nationwide included DEI-related terms.
These DEI-focused projects diverted resources from universal STEM advancement, prioritizing ideological goals over merit.
The full list of terminated NSF grants is avaiable here.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.