Take action: APS campaign to protect science

Like many of you, we are deeply concerned by recent executive actions. We share your frustration and dismay. The American science and technology enterprise has been targeted. Colleagues have lost their jobs. Students face an uncertain future. Collaborators, mentors, and friends are in pain. The stakes are high, and we know how heavy this moment feels. But history teaches us that, together, we are powerful. APS is mobilizing its resources to support the physics community, and we invite you to join this effort. As a first step in a multifaceted campaign, we are launching a nationwide advocacy initiative, and we need your help.

Draconian cuts to agency budgets, including NSF, NIST, and DOE, will do immediate and long-term damage to our community — and science more broadly — by creating chaos, canceling projects, and upending careers. The effects will be disastrous: physics research leading to paradigm-shifting discoveries left unfunded and unpursued, a domestic STEM workforce unable to meet the demands of the global economy, a decline in U.S. innovation, and thousands of would-be physicists who never even have the opportunity to pursue our field. This is a future we cannot accept.

Please join our campaign to make Congress understand why federal support for science is critical to America and Americans.

• Right now, we need you to share your experiences showcasing the transformative positive impact of NSF, NIST, DOE, NASA, and DOD-funded research and programs on you, your community, city, and state. Share what would be lost if support for basic research evaporates. Tell us if you’ve been affected by recent executive actions.
• Soon, you’ll be invited to participate in the Contact Congress campaign that we will launch as soon as the federal FY’26 budget cycle begins (currently anticipated in April).
• Finally, we’re looking for enthusiastic volunteer advocates to meet with elected officials and policy-makers in key states, work with APS staff to write persuasive op-eds and letters to the editors, attend local town halls, and make sure America’s leaders and voters understand why science matters.

If you want to stay updated on our advocacy, then join our advocacy email list. Allies outside APS are welcome to join this list as well.

These efforts are the beginning of a campaign that will address not only the future, but also what’s happening right now. More work is in motion to protect science and support physicists, including those whose employment has been disrupted. You can expect additional updates soon, and throughout the year.

We stand in a pivotal moment, and we will meet it with focus and resolve. Please join us in raising our voices for the good of science.

Thank you.