The McClintock Letters Initiative to Support Science
The new McClintock Letters Initiative calls on researchers to share their stories about the need for federal financial support of scientific research.
Published June 2, 2025
With federal funding to science research in jeopardy, advocates have launched a new effort to encourage the scientific community to better communicate with the public about the need for federally funded research.
The McClintock Letters Initiative is calling for scientists to submit opinion pieces to their hometown media outlets. The hope is that firsthand accounts from researchers about the social and economic impact of science will lead to better public understanding and to advocate for renewed financial support where grants have been cancelled as well as to increase support in general. The effort is named for Nobel Prize-winning geneticist Barbara McClintock, who was elected an Honorary Member of The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy) in 1985.
According to the initiative’s website, “It is crucial that we improve the general public’s understanding of how scientific research contributes to their everyday health and wealth. And we want to highlight the importance of your research through the voice of the person doing it: YOU!”
The initiative was organized by more than 20 graduate student groups across the United States as well as Science Homecoming and the Cornell Advancing Science and Policy Club. Their goal is to publish more than 1,000 op-eds across the country around June 16th, McClintock’s birthday. McClintock became the first woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize in the sciences, when she earned this prestigious honor in 1983 for her research on the cytogenetics of maize.
Sign up today if you’re interested in supporting this effort to advance science. The McClintock Letters Initiative is not directly affiliated with or endorsed by The New York Academy of Sciences.
