How one US scientist is adapting to life abroad after DOGE cuts

Fish scientist Sarah Weisberg relocated to Denmark after job cuts at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Credit: Ellie Heywood In late 2024, Sarah Weisberg started her ‘dream job’ at an office of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) called NOAA Fisheries. She was working as a fish biologist at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, helping to research and inform management of fishing and marine resources. Along with her husband, Weisberg — who had completed her PhD in marine science at Stony Brook University in New York earlier that year — even bought a house in Rhode Island to be closer to her new job. Just five months later, in February 2025, Weisberg was one of thousands of federal workers let go without warning during a massive government downsizing led by the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). NOAA Fisheries alone lost 545 employees in the cuts; 234 were at regional science centres, such as Weisberg’s office. Similar cuts came to other federally funded scientific organizations, including the National Institutes of Health and NASA. The DOGE cuts are just one part of the changing research landscape in the United States, which is causing its scientists to increasingly consider international positions. …