Kate Marvel Resigns From NASA, Citing Attacks on Climate Science

Resignation

Kate Marvel, a widely known climate scientist and author, has resigned from her position at NASA, citing what she described as the Trump administration’s attacks on climate science in the United States.

Marvel, who trained as an astrophysicist before turning to the study of Earth’s atmosphere, said the administration’s actions made it impossible to remain at an agency she loved.

“It wears you down after a while,” Marvel said in an interview after announcing her resignation on Tuesday. She said none of her internally funded science projects were supported and that other proposals she submitted appeared to have gone nowhere.

Funding and workplace disruptions

Marvel was an associate research physicist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. The research center was effectively shuttered in May 2025 when the Trump administration canceled the lease on its Manhattan office, forcing more than 100 staff members to work from home.

She said NASA had recently rejected her proposals to study how climate warming could affect the nation’s solar energy supply. She also pointed to the loss of office space and uncertainty over federal research funding as factors that made it difficult to continue her work.

A NASA spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.

Broader departures from federal science agencies

Marvel is among an estimated 95,000 employees who have left federal science agencies through layoffs, retirements or resignations since President Trump returned to the White House last year. Of those, an estimated 10,000 held doctorate degrees in the sciences.

Her departure adds to a broader exodus from federal scientific institutions as researchers confront funding disruptions and structural changes inside government agencies.