By Casey Iwamoto
When the Chinatown-International District in Seattle hosted the world’s largest dim sum party, it was easy to celebrate how a diverse community comes together for a family style meal. Yet, while this space highlights unique cultures, these communities often face steep health disparities and are overlooked as a homogenous monolith. When the data is broken down by Asian subgroups in Washington school districts, it highlights unique barriers in education for each. This leads to disparities in the AAPNHI scientific pipeline, and consequently scientific findings that impact health. Growing up as an Asian American high school student in Seattle, I experienced imposter syndrome in science from never having an Asian mentor, which is still lacking in my mentorship 10 years later. This contributes to Asian scientists exiting the scientific pipeline without proper representation and requires long-term support that scientific funding provides. Therefore, there is a need for communities to stand up for scientific funding in a time where it is not prioritized and when Asian communities are often overlooked.
With governmental cuts to scientific funding from National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), impacts to scientific programs at all levels are reduced. This has severe impacts on long-term studies for medicine, environment, and public health. In Washington alone, NSF invested over $25 million in STEM education in 2025. This can take the shape of infrastructure to support innovative ideas and the diverse scientists behind it through programs such as AAPI in Geoscience: Inclusivity, Leadership, and Experience at Bellevue College, which aims to diversify environmental sciences that impact every person and part of our planet.
I am fortunate to have benefited from early science programs that encouraged me to complete a PhD in Forest Resources, a field that is predominantly white dominated. Growing up in West Seattle, the opportunity to release salmon fry to support local populations in elementary school sparked my love for science. My time interning at the Woodland Park Zoo and raising endangered butterflies helped steer my path towards environmental science for my college degree. Furthermore, direct funding from the NSF International Research Experience for Students through Washington State University allowed me to explore how forests impact water quality in Costa Rica, providing critical early career scientific training. These science preparation programs were vital for me to become a professional in restoring human degraded landscapes ranging from Mississippi to Ghana. With this funding loss, budding scientists in our community will lose opportunities for science exposure, leading to a loss of diversity, and ultimately, a critical reduction in scientific findings.
These federal funding cuts disproportionately affect minority researchers. While Asians are considered overrepresented in STEM programs, research concerning AAPNHI health and communities are often overlooked. In Washington, NIH funded research hubs like The Fred Hutch Cancer Center lead a specific program focusing on AANHPI health. Representation at higher scientific levels is needed for consistent scientific inclusion to reduce knowledge gaps for Asian communities. Specifically, there is a need for increased Asian representation in leadership positions in science. However, this cut in scientific funding, and therefore educational outreach, will lead to serious and unknown long-term consequences for science, disproportionately impacting our communities.
All Washingtonians deserve to have access to scientific education and training as I did. Science makes Washington a better and safer state to live, and Asian Americans deserve to have their voice represented, indicating specialized stakes in this battle for funding science in the U.S.
In Washington, you can contact your U.S. Senator and Representative to voice the value of science for our community. Asian Americans play a vital role in science, and our voices should have the space to be heard.
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