Over 70 students and Stanford affiliates joined hundreds of protesters outside of San Francisco City Hall on Friday at the Stand Up for Science rally against the Trump administration’s cuts to federal research funding.
Stand Up For Science is a national grassroots movement run by five young scientists from different disciplinary backgrounds. The San Francisco protest was one of 32 official Stand Up for Science rallies nationwide. Attendees carried signs that read “Science Saves Lives” and “You know it’s bad when the nerds get mad.”
Since his inauguration, the Trump administration has ordered the NIH to limit funds for facilities’ costs to research institutions and implemented layoffs at several science agencies including the National Institute of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Stanford could lose up to $160 million dollars in funding from the NIH if the changes are made, though a judge has since issued a temporary restraining order against the NIH. Despite the legal challenges filed against the NIH, professors have already noticed their grant applications have not been assigned study sections, which review and approve grants, and some graduate student researchers are being warned away from academia.
The protest featured several speakers, including chemistry professor and Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi, who began her speech by recounting the role science played in her family’s history.
By the time she was born, her “parents had both come out of deep poverty and joined the middle class, thanks to the kinds of opportunities an education in science [provides],” Bertozzi said.
“It couldn’t be a better time to be a scientist, until a few weeks ago,” Bertozzi said.
In 2022, Bertozzi was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for her development of bioorthogonal reactions, which can be used to study protein production and develop cancer treatments.
Bertozzi cautioned against the dangers of limiting federal funding and shutting down government programs.
“The very programs that made it possible for me to stand here before you as a practicing chemist, an educator, a researcher and a Nobel laureate, are exactly the kind of programs that our current administration is trying to destroy,” Bertozzi said.
Other speakers included geophysicist Mary Lou Zoback ’74 M.S. ’75 Ph.D ’78, SETI astronomer Seth Shostak and California State Sen. Scott Wiener. One performance included a parody of “This Land is Your Land” by medical school professor Steve Goodman that included the refrain “science is good for you and me.”
Student groups were active in publicizing participation in the protest. Stanford Students in Biodesign (SSB) and Stanford Biotech Group (SBG) sponsored transportation for students, including subsidizing carpool groups and CalTrain tickets while the Graduate Workers Union (GWU) organized the carpool effort.
Other student groups like Stanford University Physics Society (SUPS) and Fossil Free Stanford helped to publicize the rally via mailing lists, flyers and the anonymous social media platform Fizz.
Pinyu Liao ’27, a member of SSB and SBG who organized undergraduate attendance at the rally, heard about the event at a team meeting in Bertozzi’s lab.
“[Bertozzi] was super passionate about the event, but I noticed that not many undergraduates were talking about this or knew about the implications of the NIH budget cuts,” Liao told The Daily. With over 70 student and affiliate sign ups, Liao called the transportation effort “a big collaboration.”
Biophysics graduate student and GWU organizer Sophie Walton Ph.D ’26 was inspired by the protest. “It’s really exciting to see everyone out here flexing their muscles and saying ‘we love science,’” said Walton, who appreciated the solidarity displayed across disciplines.
Walton also worries about “the tendency for university leadership to leave folks behind” in an effort to comply with the government and secure federal funding. She believes that events like the rally are “showing that we can’t leave anyone behind.”
In a statement on recent executive orders, the GWU asked Stanford to maintain graduate student workers salaries and “provide at least 12-month 5-year funding to all enrolled PhD students in good academic standing, regardless of the state of research grants and federal funding,” which is consistent with the funding commitment negotiated between the University and the GWU in November 2024.
Organizers ended the rally by asking scientists to “be vocal about your science and what makes it possible,” and instructed all protestors to be wary of misinformation and pseudoscience on social media.
“We have to keep the doors open for the next generation. Our students are counting on us. Our children are counting on us,” said Bertozzi.