ACS to give out graduate student bridge funding

Via Chemical and Engineering News, this ACS news: 

WASHINGTON, DC—The American Chemical Society announced that the ACS Board of Directors has approved $2.5 million to be granted to graduate students who have been impacted by the termination or cancellation of their adviser’s research grant(s). Wayne E. Jones Jr., chair of the ACS Board of Directors, revealed the details at the ACS Board Open Session on Sunday, Aug. 17, during the ACS Fall 2025 meeting.

“This program addresses the growing concern of the disruption of graduate education due to unexpected loss of research funding . . . helping ensure continuity and training and protecting the future of our US-based scientific workforce,” said Jones.

The initiative is being called the ACS Graduate Student Success Grant. The goal is to support MS and PhD students within 1 year of completion of their degree who have been impacted by the termination or cancellation of their adviser’s research grant(s). These students will be eligible for $25,000 for 1 year, and this will be per research institution. Submissions will open Sept. 15 and close Oct. 1. Additional information about the grant can be found at www.acs.org/gradsuccessgrant.

It is a good thing that the Society is doing this, but the real issue (in my opinion) is that we have no idea how many impacted graduate students there are. There are 100 awards to be given. Rough math indicates there are something like 3000 graduate students in chemistry per year (based on the Survey of Earned Doctorates.) We have no good idea of how many affected students there are - I sincerely hope and pray this is sufficient.