MIT’s president warned that federally funded research on campus is sharply declining, tying the drop to federal policy shifts and the resulting slowdown in new awards. In a video message to the MIT community, Sally Kornbluth said federally funded research was down more than 20% compared with the prior year-to-date, and that the number of new federal research awards also fell by more than 20%. Kornbluth described the loss as “a striking” setback for MIT’s research ecosystem, which is among the most influential and productive in the country. The warning signals an immediate operational challenge for labs planning staffing, equipment purchases, and multi-year grant renewals. The report also reinforces a wider compliance and planning reality for research universities: federal award timing and policy direction can quickly translate into graduate enrollment changes and funding pipeline volatility—even when institutions have strong internal research capacity. MIT’s message sets up scrutiny of which federal programs and administrative changes are driving the decline and whether new award patterns will stabilize over the next grant cycle.