"I don't think it's much of anything that Ted Cruz would understand," Borhan said. "It’s not the type of thing that he would be able to comprehend, what it is we're doing."

Borhan was baffled to learn that the project had been flagged by the Texas senator's investigation database, focusing on research receiving grants in higher education institutions. 

The database, which was compiled by Cruz in October 2024, flagged more than 3,400 grants funded by the NSF that "promoted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) or advanced neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda."  

To identify such research, Cruz defined DEI as anything pertaining to the mention of "social justice," "race," "gender," or "environmental justice." Each project flagged in the database is categorized into these four groups. 

Cruz released the database again on Feb. 11 and requested that the projects included in the database receive "significant scrutiny" in the Trump administration’s review of NSF grants. 

Borhan and Jackson’s research is one of 38 projects on the database being conducted by Michigan State University faculty. 

With a quick Ctrl+F search of their project for some of the keywords, the only one Borhan found that might’ve led to their project being flagged was "diversity." The word was included in the project proposal's "broader impact" section. 

For an NSF proposal to be considered, researchers must include a section detailing the broader impact of the project. According to NSF, these broader impacts must show "the potential to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes."

A few examples of these desired outcomes include STEM education, inclusion, public engagement and societal well being, among others. 

The broader impact of Borhan and Jackson’s project focuses on education through the support of Project Seed. 

Project Seed is a national project sponsored by the American Chemical Society. It provides high school students from low-income backgrounds with the opportunity to participate in research projects during the summer. Borhan spearheaded Project Seed at Michigan State.

"(In the project proposal) I'm saying that my laboratory will continue efforts in maintaining this diversity, engage undergraduates to participate in research and work hard to recruit high school students to experience cutting-edge science," Borhan said. 

Alongside projects like Borhan and Jackson’s, many of those flagged focus on STEM education initiatives or community-based STEM research. 

Julie Libarkin, the associate dean of MSU’s Environmental Science and Policy Program and head of the Geocognition Research Laboratory, had four of her NSF funded projects flagged by Cruz’s database. 

One of them is the STEM Ed Participatory and Community Engaged Research and Teaching program, which trains post-doctoral researchers in STEM education research. It focuses on research that is community-driven and responsive to community interests and needs, Libarkin said. This program in particular partners with Indigenous communities and is in partnership with the SUNY ESF Center for Native Peoples and the Environment and the College of Menominee Nations. 

The tie between all of Libarkin’s flagged projects, she said, is their connection to community, justice and uplifting researchers and students. 

"Interestingly, we just want to build an infrastructure opportunity for everyone to benefit, which I think is bringing the work back to the people," Libarkin said. 

Libarkin doesn’t use the term "DEI" to describe her research.

"I don't like the language because I don’t know what DEI is — I mean, DEI is a buzzword," she said. "We do work that’s community-focused, that’s about everyone being uplifted."

Though these projects have been flagged by the database, researchers have not yet seen any impacts to funding. Vice President of Research and Innovation Doug Gage said the database is not the university’s biggest concern since it was not followed by any action. 

No research projects or programs have been terminated due to this database or any other reasons pertaining to DEI, Gage said. The only confirmed cuts that have impacted university research thus far are those that were funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

Despite the lack of action, uncertainties remain regarding the future of research that relates to whatever President Donald Trump's administration deems as DEI. Lawsuits continue to play out against Trump’s orders to withdraw federal funding from DEI programs. 

"We don't have all the answers at this point, but what we have promised is that we will share whatever knowledge we gain from Government Relations, from Contract and Grants Administration, and from individual leaders in my office with the faculty as soon as possible, so that they can react in a way that is going to allow them to be successful in their career," Gage said. 

However, as their work continues to be targeted, researchers are on edge about the future. If they lose their funding at any point, they say their research is in danger, even if that funding comes back. 

It’s not like a faucet you can turn on and off, Borhan said. When research or certain researchers lose their funding, he said collective knowledge and experiences are lost. 

"When you put a stop in science and in research, it stops, and then it doesn't turn back on again."

The same is true for Libarkin, whose projects depend on her team and the community ties it has created. 

"This community-engaged work is very time and relationship dependent, and so I know the work can't continue," Libarkin said. "You have to have human beings interacting with other human beings to do the work, so it will stop."

These uncertainties are causing a lot of stress, Libarkin said, with consistent fear that funding will disappear. 

And while senior researchers like Borhan, Jackson and Libarkin will likely maintain their teaching positions, junior researchers such as graduate students, Ph.D. students or postdoctoral scholars are at a higher risk.  

"There are a lot of people involved whose lives are woven up in these activities, and all of a sudden, if the money goes away, then our ability to both move the science forward and keep these people moving forward in their careers is totally inhibited," Jackson said.