Harvard’s US-funded defence projects totalled US$180m in recent years: Study

WASHINGTON - When the Trump administration

cut federal funding to Harvard University,

it abruptly ended an estimated US$180 million (S$232 million) that the federal government had poured into US military projects at Harvard in recent years, according to an analysis from a defence software company.

The Trump administration announced in April that it was moving to freeze US$2.2 billion in grants and US$60 million in contracts to Harvard University. US President Donald Trump said he was trying to force change at Harvard – and other top-level universities across the US – because in his view they have been captured by leftist "woke" thought and become bastions of anti-Semitism.

Some of the grants paid for military-specific medical research, studies on countering weapons of mass destruction and research on lasers, among numerous other topics, Reuters found.

The abrupt halt stopped years-long projects and upended programmes spread across several universities, not just Harvard. In 2025 alone, an estimated 103 grants totalling about US$14 million will grind to a halt, according to an analysis by Govini, a defence software company. 

For example, US officials ended Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ Professor Katia Bertoldi’s US$6 million Pentagon-funded project developing shape-changing structures with military applications two weeks ago, despite being at a critical juncture in its research cycle.

"We've been in year three, so we set up all the tools, and now we're really gaining momentum, and now it stops," Prof Bertoldi said. 

Funded through the Department of Defence's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, she was developing technology based on origami that would lead to reconfigurable antennas, and deployable shelters like field hospitals.

Since 2020 the Pentagon, Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency and every branch of the US military have given Harvard 418 grants valued at US$180 million, according to the analysis by Govini.

Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth “directed the termination of several programmes, contracts and grants that were not aligned with the Department’s priorities to cut wasteful spending, implement the President’s orders, and reallocate savings to mission-critical priorities”, a Pentagon spokesperson told Reuters.

The bulk of those grants went to military medical research, basic scientific research and applied scientific research, Govini found, with the Army providing the most funding.

The administration has frozen approximately US$3 billion in federal grants to Harvard, with Mr Trump complaining on Truth Social that Harvard has hired "Democrats, Radical Left idiots and 'bird brains'" as professors. On May 26, Mr Trump said he is considering redirecting billions of dollars of previously awarded scientific and engineering research grants from Harvard to trade schools.

Harvard has sued to restore the funding, calling the cuts an unconstitutional attack on its free-speech rights.

The research cancellations affect extensive collaborative networks. Prof Bertoldi's project included researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Georgia Tech.

Scientists warn these cuts may have strategic implications as China has heavily invested in research.

Prof Bertoldi said: "In China, as far as I know, colleagues that moved back to China, there's a lot of support for this type of research." REUTERS