Halley Froehlich thought she would work in the United States all her life.

Her family has lived there since the 1700s.

But her federal grant was delayed.

She was also afraid about the future.

So she moved to Finland with her husband and daughter.

She now does her research at the University of Helsinki.

She studies how seafood reacts to climate change.

The Trump administration started to break up the federal grant process.

It also wanted more political control over funded projects.

Foreign universities saw a chance to hire U.S. researchers.

They offered steadier funding and academic freedom.

Many scientists said yes.

Scientists and professional groups say this change is clear and new.

They say it is worrying.

But no one can measure it for the whole country.

White House spokesperson Liz Huston said Trump is "ending waste."

She said he wants America to stay the world leader in science and new ideas.

More than half of U.S. states have lost scientists to other countries' hiring programs.

This comes from an April report by the Business for Federal Research Funding Coalition.

Physics Ph.D. graduates left the U.S. in 2025 at the highest rate in 30 years.

The American Institute of Physics found this.

Canada, France, Belgium and Finland are some countries that praise their new hires.

Christine Stawitz is now at the University of Birmingham in England.

She said the U.S. used to be "the shining city on the hill."

She said its loss of reputation is hard to measure but really damaging.

Some researchers who came to the U.S. from other countries are also leaving.

Biologists James Letts and Maria Maldonado came from Canada and Argentina.

They left the University of California, Davis for Monash University in Australia.

Omar Yaghi won the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

He left UC Berkeley for Tsinghua University in China.

The U.S. is still a big power in science.

Many scientists are staying.

But the administration has cut or frozen up to $174 billion in federal grants.

Major research institutions accepted 15% fewer doctoral applicants for fall 2026 than the year before.