When Cornell University Ph.D. student Alex Lando goes into the lab, it’s usually to research biopesticides, which are essentially a way to replace chemical pesticides with natural organisms.
Her expertise is on something called Entomophthoralean fungi, an organism that kills and infects insects. The fungi has recently gained some pop culture infamy as the culprit that turns people into flesh-eating zombies in the hit TV show, The Last of Us. But Lando’s work is serious science.
“We're working on developing them as a biocontrol,” Lando said. “So instead of using harmful chemical pesticides, we would use these fungi.”
Lando is one of several Ph.D. students at Cornell whose work takes place in a facility owned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under the supervision and guidance of USDA scientists. Usually, that affiliation means students work and train with leading scientists to produce research to help the public.
But in recent weeks, amid the Trump administration’s purge of federal employees, the affiliation has thrown Lando’s research — and that of several other students — into turmoil.
On February 15, Lando was called into an emergency lab meeting, where her advisor told her the USDA had cut his job. His lab would shut down, and Lando’s research would have to stop.
“The past two years that I spent on my Ph.D. was up in the air,” Lando said after a recent rally on campus calling for the protection of science funding. “The future of my Ph.D. was up in the air.”
The USDA has labs affiliated with dozens of universities across the country to help train the next generation of scientists, who work on everything from developing new crop varieties to addressing worrisome plant diseases. Now, many early-career scientists at Cornell University and elsewhere are grappling with the fallout from the federal government’s widespread layoffs of employees who served as their mentors and advisers.
Some federal scientists were unexpectedly rehired in the weeks after the firings. Still others may get their jobs back. But many researchers say the upheaval has already taken a toll.
The impact strikes far beyond Cornell’s campus as well. Nearly 6,000 USDA employees who were in their probationary period, which can last up to three years, were fired last month. That includes workers outside of academia, as well as advisors affiliated with universities.
To Lando, the whole process has been distressing. After the firings, she watched her mentor, USDA scientist Brian Lovett, clear out his office. She knew she would have to look for a new advisor and a new lab.
The experience was “really disheartening and lonely,” she said. “You feel like your whole organization is almost against you and you didn't actively do anything wrong.”
Then, amidst the chaos, something weird happened: Lovett got his job back. WSKG hasn't been able to reach Lovett for comment since that happened, and it is unclear why his termination was rescinded.
Before he was rehired, Lovett told WSKG his major concern was long-term: that if young scientists see their advisers thrust into uncertainty, they may leave the field altogether.
“I think that will lead to a lot of anxiety in graduate students,” Lovett said. “And also them wondering, ‘OK, well, if that's what's happening to the person above me, maybe I should get off this ladder.’”
Lando said she hopes the reversal of Lovett’s termination means her research will be able to continue. But the future of other fired scientists’ positions remains uncertain.
On Wednesday, a federal board ruled that the widespread USDA firings could have been illegal and ordered the agency to temporarily rehire employees while they investigate. However, it remains unclear when or if fired employees will get their jobs back.
Government officials have said the job cuts are about saving money, following President Donald Trump’s executive order to eliminate government “waste, bloat, and insularity.”
A memo from the federal Office of Personnel Management released the same day as the USDA layoffs details that “an employees’ performance must be viewed through the current needs and best interest of the government.”
The USDA did not respond to WSKG’s inquiry. A Cornell spokesperson said the university has a longstanding relationship with the USDA, but directed questions on the federal department’s staffing and management to the government.
No matter what happens next, some early-career scientists say the interruption has made them lose trust in the federal government and the jobs it could provide.
Cornell Ph.D. student Isako Di Tomassi’s expertise is on the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine. She was working with the USDA on research focused on the health of potato crops when her mentor was fired.
“We were literally in the middle of helping a major grower identify what was going on with the disease outbreak that they were having,” Di Tomassi said. Her adviser’s termination meant that work had to pause as well.
After she learned of the USDA job cuts, Di Tomassi posted on a local social media platform alerting neighbors and others in the community. Some people were concerned, she said, but others commented that they were glad the cuts happened.
To Di Tomassi, those responses spoke to a worrisome disconnect. She said she chose to study science to serve the public good and help people, but the public doesn’t always understand how science works — or why it matters.
“It's like I'm creating new knowledge and doing work that is of benefit to the taxpayers that have made these investments in me,” Di Tomassi said. “Now that work is being interrupted.”