Dispatch number two: The State of Science in 2025
Join us for Salon de Résistance on September 25 at Black Iris for a conversation about science in America.
Scientific progress shouldn’t be optional. From vaccines and clean energy to space exploration and evolutionary discoveries that map our common ancestry, science is the backbone of our public health, innovation, and national prosperity. This used to be an undeniable fact of American life. But today, science is under assault, hollowed out by cuts to research and the firing of scientists at NASA, National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Institutes for Health (NIH).
Next year alone, NASA is facing a proposed 47 percent budget cut; the NSF a 57 percent cut; and a 40 percent cut at the NIH.
The impacts will be far-reaching and are already coming into focus: cancer research delayed, Alzheimer’s studies abandoned, fewer vaccines developed when the next pandemic arrives. Clean-energy innovations shelved, while the climate crisis accelerates. Fewer scholarships and research grants for students who might lead the next generation of STEM breakthroughs. Layoffs at universities and labs rippling into local economies, from small towns in Virginia to major research hubs across the country, meaning fewer doctors, scientists, and engineers.
And globally, the US is relinquishing its leadership role to China and the European Union. While we retreat, they’re investing. These aren’t abstract policy shifts, but a deliberate dismantling of the science and research we need to prepare us for an uncertain future.
We need to talk about it
Salon de Résistance is thrilled to host this conversation with two of the region’s leading scientists in astrophysics and anthropology: Dr. Kartik Sheth, joining from Washington DC, former Associate Chief Scientist at NASA and White House advisor to President Biden; and Dr. Amy Rector, Professor of Anthropology and Associate Dean of Science and Math at VCU, whose recent discoveries in Ethiopia are reshaping how we understand our evolutionary origins.
Together, we’ll explore recent scientific breakthroughs and weigh them against what’s at stake when science is sidelined, from local universities to America’s place in the world, and how we can reimagine the scientific infrastructure of the future.
our Guests
Dr. Kartik Sheth is a globally recognized astrophysicist and strategic leader whose career has spanned NASA, the White House, and international space innovation. At NASA Headquarters, where he most recently served as Associate Chief Scientist, Dr. Sheth shaped policy and strategy across the agency, oversaw flagship missions such as the James Webb and Spitzer Space Telescopes, and advanced new ways to measure the societal benefits of Earth observations. His leadership extended to the White House, where at both the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget he worked on national R&D priorities, managing multi-billion-dollar budgets and driving initiatives in clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and emerging technologies. Today, he is the founder and CEO of Empowered Earth Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to sustainable solutions for energy independence and climate resilience, and he continues to advise global efforts to expand and commercialize space.
Dr. Amy Rector has been a member of the anthropology faculty at VCU since 2011. Her primary research includes reconstructing paleoecological contexts for early human evolution in eastern and southern Africa, as well as identifying and analyzing fossil mammal communities to characterize their biogeographic and ecological affinities through space and time. Working with the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State, she has been involved in field work across Africa and currently directs the Ledi-Geraru Research Project in the Afar Region, Ethiopia. Her recent work describing a new species of human ancestor was published in Nature and featured in the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Evolution Soup.
Learn more about Dr. Rector’s most recent discoveries in Ethiopia on the Evolution Soup podcast below.
The Salon
Salon de Résistance unfolds in three movements: a convergence to begin, a conversation to spark, and a reflection to carry the ideas forward.
6:00pm – Convergence
Drinks and shared conversation, set to vinyl flips from Le Cachet Dulcet.
7:00–8:30pm – Conversation
A live interview with Dr. Kartik Sheth and Dr. Amy Rector, opening into questions and exchange with the room.
8:30pm – Reflection
Space to connect with our guests, develop perspectives, and imagine what comes next, set to more vinyl flips from Le Cachet Dulcet.
Event page here.
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