Public records list Jessica Cantlon Navy grant as active through 2027

In short: Public records reviewed list Jessica Cantlon’s U.S. Navy research grant as ongoing from 2023 to 2027, not canceled.

What happened

A New York Times story discusses research funding and includes a claim that a U.S. Navy program connected to Jessica Cantlon’s work on spatial problem solving training was cut.

However, publicly available records point the other way. Cantlon’s CV lists an Office of Naval Research grant titled “Neural Basis of Learning from Spatial Intervention” running from 2023 to 2027, with total funding of $1,249,000. The listing reads like an active, multi year award, not a project that ended early.

In simple terms, the project is about how training can improve “spatial” skills, meaning the ability to think about shapes, distance, and position, like mentally rotating a puzzle piece to see where it fits. It also looks at the “neural basis,” which means what is happening in the brain during learning. This is often studied with brain scanning tools such as fMRI (a kind of camera that tracks blood flow changes in the brain).

Based on the information provided here, there is no accessible public evidence that the Navy terminated this specific grant early. Other public descriptions of Cantlon’s work also describe ongoing research and do not mention a cancellation.

Why it matters

For people outside research, the key point is simple: when funding ends suddenly, projects can stop midstream. In this case, the clearest public document available, a CV that lists current grants, indicates the Navy funded project is still scheduled to run through 2027.

Source: NYTimes