A mass exodus of Ph.D. scientists and health researchers from 14 federal research agencies left a net shortfall of roughly 4,224 positions last year, Science reported. The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation posted the largest losses; the NIH saw departures jump from 421 in 2024 to more than 1,100 in 2025. Agency officials and university partners say retirements, voluntary resignations and a collapse in rotator hires — scholars on temporary leave from universities who staff federal labs — drove the decline. Researchers and university leaders warned that shrinking in‑house scientific capacity threatens grant administration, program continuity and translational research pipelines that many campuses depend on for partnerships and funding. Rotator programs, long used to inject fresh academic expertise into federal projects, were particularly hit: NSF lost roughly 75% of its rotators in 2025, the study found. Policy shifts and budget uncertainty under the current administration were repeatedly cited as push factors. The decline in federal Ph.D. staff comes as universities face parallel cuts in research grants and a fraught regulatory environment, complicating campus strategies for sustaining research portfolios. (Note: “rotators” are academics temporarily assigned from universities to federal agencies to run or advise research programs.)