The Trump administration outlined plans to steer more federal research funding toward individual scientists and students rather than academic institutions, alongside experimenting with alternative review approaches for grant proposals. The memo directs agencies to adopt guidance that reduces reliance on traditional peer review models for assessing research. The approach would shift how universities compete for major federal awards, with potential implications for early-career recruitment, tenure-linked research planning, and how institutions justify administrative overhead. It also comes after prior funding actions targeting areas the administration characterized as misaligned with its priorities. In parallel, universities and researchers are already facing policy pressure in federal science governance, including efforts to increase the role of appointees and move funding toward robotics, artificial intelligence, and nuclear energy. The precise implementation mechanics—especially what replaces peer review and how “individual” funding routes are operationalized—remain to be defined. For campuses, the immediate impact is planning uncertainty: faculty recruitment, grant-writing staffing, and internal research compliance processes may need updating to match new award pathways and review timelines.