Boulder is a wellspring of ground-breaking research. Our city should be proud of its achievements in producing new knowledge. Today, this vitality is endangered due to a stunning combination of misguided policies and myopia. In areas such as biomedical research, lives are at stake. Fortunately, we can do something about it.

Silence in the face of this crisis is stuck in my craw. Why isn’t there a public outcry? Concrete policies to tackle it are wanting.

I worry that complicit state and local officials can be a cat’s paw, accomplices who tamp down scientific discovery and critical thinking. As a research professor in Washington, D.C., and a former director of a Colorado-based foundation that supports social research, I have had a birds-eye view of this growing menace to our town.

Boulder’s research community includes federal labs, a top-tier university, private-sector companies, and the hub for a consortium of organizations (CO-LABS in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico). The benefits and potential impact on society are in areas such as wildfires, floods, water supply, snowpack, pharmaceuticals and infectious diseases.

The economic contributions are substantial. The University of Colorado Boulder attracted $742.2 million in sponsored research in the 2023-24 fiscal year. The bulk of awards comes from federal agencies, including Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Commerce, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense.

Boulder is home to a host of federally supported research organizations: among them, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Research not only brings in dollars but plays a significant role in the quality of life. It spurs curiosity, flashes of imagination and bursts of creativity. Robust research is the marrow of a vibrant city like Boulder.

Even before Donald Trump’s first presidency began in 2017, knowledge institutions encountered three threats.

First, intellectual energy is increasingly directed away from the joy of discovery and toward material rewards. Writing at the turn of the 20th century, the renowned educational philosopher John Dewey warned that grants and contracts can occupy the minds of researchers or, as he put it, “the emotions are enkindled by the grandiose conceptions latent in money.”

Second, demands for short-termism imperil free inquiry and research autonomy. Abraham Flexner, the founding director of the Princeton-based Institute for Advanced Study, held that researchers should strive for knowledge without an anticipated outcome. Notwithstanding a time lag, practical payoffs may result from theoretical advances. Nowadays, however, applied research is displacing basic research.

Third, economic nationalism brings unremitting pressure. Bear in mind that when Jonas Salk introduced the polio vaccine, he was asked who owned the patent. Dr. Salk responded: “The people, I would say. There is no patent. You might as well ask, could you patent the sun?” This was before the adoption of rules for ownership of intellectual property rights under the World Trade Organization.

By building on precedents of ratcheting up intellectual property rights, today’s illiberal populists hinder scientific processes. Collaboration and exchange of ideas across borders are fundamental to knowledge production.

After taking office early this year, Trump and his team suspended scientific meetings to review applications for fellowships and grants and required by law for disbursing funds. Fueled by right-wing disdain of intellectuals, this move interrupts research and communication with scientists overseas. It is accompanied by talk of overhauling the National Institutes of Health and eliminating the Department of Education.

These national and global trends may seem remote from Boulder, but they dial into our daily lives. They present a spectrum of possibilities: to do nothing, respond separately or plan a comprehensive response.

I favor the latter and advocate a multipronged approach. Boulder officials should offer tax incentives for R&D activities and give greater weight to basic research. Our schools and higher education institutions ought to teach students about democratic processes of knowledge production and dissemination. Laypeople could play an important role in piloting, conducting, and evaluating research.

In sum, a key to Boulder’s future is to protect and bolster its research capacity. It is vital for the exercise of democracy and promotion of the common good.

Jim Mittelman, a Boulder resident and Camera columnist, is an educator, activist and author. His newest book is titled “Runaway Capitalism: The Greatest Pandemic” (due out in early 2026).