After nearly 40 years, the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States, or ARCUS, will close September 30, a casualty of President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts and his administration’s focus on using the Arctic as an outpost for national security and energy dominance — and its push away from science.
As part of the overarching defunding of science after Trump took office, ARCUS’ major funder, the National Science Foundation, chose not to reopen a bid for a community hub project that would have continued to fund the nonprofit.
ARCUS had been trying to diversify its funding sources, but still received 93 percent of its funding — $1.7 million — from the NSF in fiscal year 2023, according to the nonprofit’s most recently available tax records.
While NSF is an independent federal agency, it relies on government funding to award grants to other organizations. It is also the lead agency responsible for implementing Arctic research policy. It is accepting input on the next five-year plan until November 15.
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