Stony Brook University grant to study ocean conditions canceled by Trump administration

The Trump administration has cancelled a $4.5 million Navy grant for researchers at Stony Brook University and other institutions to study ocean conditions, prompting an objection from a Republican member of Congress who wrote that he believes the grant “was erroneously cancelled due to the presence of the word ‘environment’ in its supporting materials.”

Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville), a Navy veteran, urged the administration to “reinstate funding for this project without delay,” writing in a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday that the research “supports our Navy’s submarine force by helping them operate with increased stealth and lethality.”

In an interview, LaLota said, “We want the most lethal fighting force the world has ever known. Submarine force is a large component of that, and their ability to detect undersea targets is important. This grant helps further that, helps keep our fleets safer, our strategic interests guarded.”

The Department of Defense did not comment and referred questions to the Navy. LaLota said Tuesday that the agency is considering his request.

The ocean project is one of more than 15 Stony Brook research grants cancelled by federal agencies since President Donald Trump took office, according to the university. It was among scores of grants that faced the chopping block when the Department of Defense terminated more than $360 million in research on climate change and other topics.

Studying underwater movement

The Navy's Office of Naval Research solicited bids for the project in 2022. It was one of 24 scientific projects “related to long-term national security needs,” ranging from deep learning algorithms to X-ray microscopy, the office wrote at the time. The ocean work included “sampling oceanic environments with biologic activity” to determine how marine animals’ movements affected ocean turbulence and other conditions, according to the office.

The project “has very clear, direct national security implications,” said the lead rese arc her on the project, professor Joe Warren, faculty director for marine vertebrate biology at Stony Brook.  

The work could help the Navy detect the subtle underwater movements of foreign vessels, in part by refining the technology used to detect motion, Warren said.

“Submarines have gotten much quieter,” he said, “and so now, instead of trying to listen for engines or propeller noise, the Navy is interested in trying to look for things like the wakes of these vehicles, because as you move through the water, you're going to mix the water, whether you're a tuna or a whale or a submarine.”

The grant called for Stony Brook to receive $1.5 million over three years. The project also included researchers with the University of Washington, University of Rhode Island, Florida International University and the University of South Florida, Warren said. The grant was for a three-year period, with a potential two-year extension.

The Office of Naval Research informed Stony Brook earlier this month that it was terminating the grant. It was among the projects deemed “not aligned” with Department of Defense priorities, according to a memorandum called “Continued Elimination of Wasteful Spending at the Department of Defense,” the Navy office wrote in the April 3 letter.

That memorandum cited more than $360 million in “wasteful” research grants “in areas of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and related social programs, climate change, social science, Covid-19 pandemic response, and other areas.”

In response to a request for comment on LaLota’s letter, the Navy sent copies of two April 24 memos from Navy Secretary John Phelan, including one directing termination of 45 Navy grants and contracts that “represent wasteful spending on climate change, DEI, social science, and other activities.”

In his letter, LaLota wrote that he supports eliminating “truly wasteful spending,” but he wrote that the Stony Brook project “aligns with both fiscal responsibility and our national security mission.”

The Defense Department is taking an “overly broad” approach to cancelling grants, said Sherri Goodman, author of “Threat Multiplier: Climate, Military Leadership, and the Fight for Global Security” and a former deputy undersecretary of defense for environmental security under President Bill Clinton.

The Office of Naval Research has a “very rigorous internal process” in selecting its research projects, she said.

“We invest billions in our submarine force,” Goodman said. Understanding ocean conditions, she said, is “important both for the security of our own force, and also to understand how our adversaries are operating.”

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott covers education. Since joining Newsday in 2012, she also has worked on the investigations team and covered real estate and the business of health care.