Rebecca Trager
Senior US correspondent, Chemistry World
I became the US Correspondent for Chemistry World in September 2014, based out of Washington, DC, after writing for the magazine on a freelance basis since 2007. With a background in policy, and a passion for journalism, I have found my niche covering the world of science policy since 1997. The interest was sparked after spending summers during college as a press intern for the National Institutes of Health. Before joining Chemistry World, I was the US Editor for Research Europe, covering the White House, as well as government departments and US agencies, and am also the former managing editor of The Blue Sheet, an Elsevier biomedical research and health policy publication. I studied philosophy and political theory at Haverford College in Pennsylvania.
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There is major tumult at the NSF, including grant cancellations, and its director has abruptly quit with more than a year left on his six-year term
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Trump administration’s targeting of grants, funding and visas creating hostile environment for scientists
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Universities sue DOE after agency suddenly caps indirect research costs at 15%
OpinionWillie May: ‘We need to find and support the “missing millions”’
The analytical chemist on growing up Black in Alabama in the 1950s and 1960s and his journey through NIST, academia and the AAAS presidency
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Researchers working on mRNA vaccines fear federal funding might be halted, with many looking to move projects abroad
NewsChemical engineering graduate student in US has visa cancelled without warning
Two Saudi graduate students at NCSU, including one studying chemical engineering, self-deported rather than be detained by immigration officials
BusinessBioLab fined for fire and chemical plume at US plant
‘Improperly stored’ pool chemicals reacted with water to release chlorine
BusinessTrump’s new tariffs threaten the chemicals sector
Broad and high tariffs could mean severe job losses and supply chain disruption for chemistry-using industries
Opinion‘Real danger in this moment’ for America’s research enterprise
There are stark warnings for the US amid science agency cuts, terminated research grants and detained graduate students
BusinessJ&J’s third talc bankruptcy settlement attempt denied
Company says it will return to courts to fight talc cancer claims
BusinessUS regulatory chief’s resignation raises alarms in biotech industry
FDA vaccines and biologicals centre director, Peter Marks, clashed with health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr
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Company whose fertiliser was blamed for livestock deaths shares analysis it says proves its product wasn’t to blame
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Proposal would see 50–75% of employees fired and the rest potentially relocated
OpinionPaul Alivisatos: ‘Physical chemistry brought me back into the fold’
The nanomaterials pioneer talks about coming from a family of immigrants, wandering as an undergraduate and finding his compass
NewsEurope offers refuge to America’s researchers
Schemes seek to attract top scientific talent from the US as Trump cuts research funding, attacks universities
BusinessBayer ordered to pay more than $2 billion to US cancer victim
Jury decided glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide caused cancer, but company will appeal
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The Department of Health and Human Services denies mRNA research faces defunding but scientists are still worried
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Legislation’s sponsor claims it will prevent espionage, but there are warnings it will harm US competitiveness
BusinessUS reviews chemical incident prevention planning rules
Risk Management Program has been extended and rolled back under successive governments
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America’s rivals are trying to capitalise on what they see as a ‘vulnerable’ moment of mass federal layoffs at science agencies