NSBE Leaders Adapt to Change in Federal STEM Education Funding 

Her retirement as deputy director of a scientific division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last fall gave NSBE leader Yvette Selby free rein to follow a longtime passion. 

“I was ready to do the STEM education work that I love so much full time,” she explains. 

Selby, a NSBE lifetime member, first joined the Society in 1988, during her time as an undergraduate Chemical Engineering major at Northwestern University, and she remained active with NSBE later as a master’s student in Civil Engineering at Howard University. Connecting with the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area Chapter of NSBE Professionals nine years later, in 1997, she held various chapter, regional and national Professionals Executive Board leadership positions. She is most proud of her more than 28-year commitment to uplifting pre-college students and her work in the mid-2000s running Kid Zone, a slate of STEM activities for elementary school students at NSBE’s Annual Convention. 

These days, Selby is leading Y’s STEM Innovation, a nonprofit organization that assists other organizations with their own STEM education programming. She is also giving her time and talent to the DC Professionals, leading its Pre-College Initiative (PCI) Committee, which earlier this month relaunched the chapter’s PCI Summit, a well-attended event created to enable the DC Professionals to support the development of NSBE Jr. chapters in the area. Among the topics addressed at the Summit were “money, resources, how we can better collaborate,” Selby reports. 

The discussion was timely: federal funding for STEM education programs and projects has been a focus of the White House since early 2025. 

“Federal funding cuts are hitting STEM engagement programs across the career pipeline, from K–12 to postdocs and early-career faculty,” read an article published on the website of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) on May 2 of last year. “Almost half of NSF’s mass grant cancellations in April were in the Directorate for STEM Education and dozens of the agency’s most prestigious early-career faculty grants were terminated, according to an agency list reviewed by FYI. Meanwhile, the president’s budget request for fiscal year 2026 proposes cutting STEM engagement programs at a variety of agencies, including a $4.7 billion reduction in funding for general research and education and broadening participation efforts at NSF. 

“According to a list provided by NSF’s union representative, between April 18 and April 25, NSF canceled more than 1,000 active research grants; this number includes collaborative grants awarded to multiple institutions. Many of these were related to diversity, equity, and inclusion or misinformation, and the agency’s announcement stated that the grants no longer ‘effectuate’ agency priorities.” 

Several federal grants canceled last year were reinstated by court decisions in July and September. Still, the landscape drawn by AIP’s report is stark. 

But Selby holds up the success of the PCI Summit, hosted by NSBE Professionals’ DC and Northern Virginia chapters, as evidence that the happenings on the federal level have not diminished people’s determination to acquire high-quality STEM education for their children, at least not in Black communities. Her own two children, now young adults studying STEM at HBCUs, were major motivators for her STEM education work with youth, Selby recalls. 

“Nobody’s saying, ‘No, (STEM) is not important, so we’re just going to kind of hang back and see what happens,’” she says. “I think people realize now is the time to actually be connecting and working with one another, because the (federal) resources may not be out there in the same way they were there before.” In the current STEM ecosystem, she adds, “it’s how well you can tie the programs we’re doing into workforce development — whether it’s robotics, coding, AI, engineering, innovative science labs — and how they are preparing young people for the future workforce as well as demonstrating innovation.” 

“I’m optimistic,” she continues. “I do think it’s going to take some work, but I feel like we have enough collective brainpower.” 

Opportunities Exist 

Rosalina Bray, Ph.D., directs NSBE’s Public Policy Special Interest Group (SIG). NSBE leaders and the Public Policy SIG stay informed on STEM policy through their active participation in the STEM Education Coalition, a group of nonprofit organizations that work together to bring STEM policy issues to legislative and community leaders. 

“…Now, a lot of the activities for the Coalition are about keeping members abreast of what the new (federal) policies are and what those policies may mean for groups that are working in STEM education, science disciplines and technology,” Dr. Bray reports. Although federal funding is not a large part of NSBE’s budget, the recent federal policies are “highly affecting the organization and institutions our members are associated with,” she says. “For collegiate students,  this means fewer scholarships, training programs, internships, and faculty mentorship.” 

But like Selby, Bray is optimistic about the progress the Society will make in the future given the current federal focus on innovation, advanced technology and engineering.  Bray believes NSBE has a track record of preparing future engineers and leaders through its programs, sponsors and members.  

Bray says there are still opportunities, also, to acquire federal funding. 

“There are a number of areas — infrastructure projects, new developing technology, new faster technology, quantum computing…some traditional engineering disciplines like mechanical and electrical — that we’re hearing there’s a lot of need and support for, because there’s an expansion of growth in those areas,” she reports. 

Bray is particularly concerned about the reduction in funding for education. 

 “We need to train people up, but we need to have a holistic approach about how we train future engineers,” she notes. “They need to understand the field, as well as business and communication. 

“But maintaining strong organizational identity for NSBE through the current changes is key,” Bray adds. 

“We are always going to be who we are, and we’re committed to serving the members of our Society, and the mission has not changed. I think being true to that mission is going to be important,” says Bray. “And others are going to be watching.”