Trevor Owens

The numbers are unnerving. After two decades of sustained growth, the number of physics bachelor’s degrees awarded in the US declined from the years 2020 to 2024, according to a recent trend analysis from the research team at the American Institute of Physics (AIP, publisher of Physics Today). 1 Figure shows the drop, which, the latest AIP data show, was followed by a slight increase in the 2024–25 academic year.

Recent changes in federal research funding and student visa policies continue to create uncertainty for physics and astronomy graduate programs across the United States. Although these developments affect many aspects of departmental operations—including faculty hiring, staffing, research funding, and graduate student support—the recruitment and enrollment of first-year graduate students may provide one of the earliest indicators of their impact.