Leaders and members of the UC Davis research community share how funding cuts have impacted research
By GRACIELA TIU — features@theaggie.org
Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, his administration has proposed and enacted a wide range of policies that have, directly and indirectly, reduced federal research funding to universities. Through budget cuts to federal agencies, which provide substantial amounts of funding for university research, and targeted cuts and restrictions to specific programs and efforts, universities like UC Davis have been doing their best to navigate through this transitional period.
Brandon Minto, the federal government relations director at UC Davis, outlined how the university has been receiving information about funding shifts.
“The university has received dozens of notices from federal agencies related to specific grants or projects since the change in the federal administration,” Minto said. “The affected grants cover a wide range of areas, including research related to cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, food production and safety, renewable energy, basic science and a great deal more. ”
The UC Davis Office of Research recommends that all federally funded grants, both domestic and international, should continue unless otherwise directed by the supporting agency or UC Davis administration. Researchers whose programs have been halted or suspended, whether by a stop work order, termination notice, budget reduction or other mechanisms, work with the school in sorting out changes.
Out of its $1,039,156,935 of total research funding, UC Davis received $441,123,729 — around 42% — through explicitly federal funding, according to the Office of Research’s annual report for the 2023-24 fiscal year. However, some federal funding flows through other areas, such as state and higher education, bringing the percentage of federal funding up to around half of the total amount, according to Simon J. Atkinson, the vice chancellor of the Office of Research at UC Davis.
The degree of reliance on federal funding also depends on the area of research, with areas such as fundamental research relying more heavily on federal support than others.
Atkinson entailed how an executive order temporarily freezing funding through foreign aid appropriations, particularly the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has subsequently affected many UC Davis research grants.
“We had a significant amount of funding from USAID, which was effectively disbanded in the early weeks of the new administration,” Atkinson said. “We had a number of large grants from USAID that were all terminated, and they were all research with an international dimension, as you would expect. So things like pandemic workforce preparedness, innovative agricultural methods that could be applied in other countries, those kinds of things. That’s been a major impact for us.”
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a significant federal funding agency, has also been outlining its implementation of the new administration’s policies and guidelines. The agency has been revising its grant policies to align with new priorities, eliminating requirements for diversity-related plans in most applications and updating application instructions and forms accordingly.
Atkinson outlined other ways that support from the NIH has shifted in recent months.
“The NIH is our largest federal funder,” Atkinson said. “We’ve only had a small number of NIH grants terminated [thus far], but NIH has been very slow to release new awards, including awards that we expected would come because the grant proposal had gotten a really good review from the NIH reviewers, and there was every indication that the funding would come through. They’ve been releasing awards at a much slower rate than they normally do. The same goes for the National Science Foundation and other agencies.”
Altogether, federal funding agencies across the board have been impacted by executive-level policies and initiatives. Atkinson also added how attempts to cap indirect costs, also known as facilities and administration costs, which support research infrastructure, have been blocked in court.
“So far, two funding agencies have tried to cap direct costs at 15%,” Atkinson said. “The NIH was first, and then the Department of Energy. Both of those attempts have been subject to court action that [have] prevented them from going into effect. We’re hoping that none of these attempts to bring indirect costs go into effect because we need that revenue to support our buildings, to support the personnel, who support research, keep the lights on, all of that stuff.”
Atkinson explained which units have been affected by the funding cuts thus far.
“I think it’s starting to spread to everybody,” Atkinson said. “I think the first units that were affected were in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Science and in the School of Medicine — they were all affected by the USAID terminations. That’s been the most severe effect that we’ve seen so far.”
Although certain departments felt an immediate impact, concern has spread through the UC Davis research community.
”But everybody is being affected because everybody is worried,” Atkinson said. “[Principal investigators] are concerned about their future funding. Graduate students are concerned about whether their funding will go away — post-docs, everybody who’s supported by the research funding that we receive, is anxious right now. So it’s not just the people who’ve been directly affected so far. It’s really the whole of our research community.”
Kunal Kardile, a fourth-year environmental policy analysis and planning major and student researcher for the UC Davis Center for Environmental Policy and Behavior, described the consequences first-hand.
“For our projects specifically, funding was due to run out at the end of March. However, due to a lack of funding from the federal level, we were unable to receive any more grants even after the original funding ran out,” Kardile said. “We are now unable to get paid for the work we are doing and had the choice of continuing to work on the project on a voluntary basis.”
With reductions of federal support, private foundations are attempting to fill the gaps, though they often cannot come close to matching federal funding.
“Foundations, I think, have all been trying to decide what they can do,” Atkinson said. “Nobody has enough money to replace the federal government funding, so they’re trying to think about which of the critical parts of the research enterprise they should be trying to support.”
Some researchers have also considered industry partnerships, which are mutually beneficial agreements between researchers and private companies, as an alternative to federal support, though that comes with its limitations.
“We have actually quite a lot of industry-funded research already,” Atkinson said. “Again, that’s not going to replace all kinds [of funding], especially fundamental research funding — industry mostly doesn’t support that. They’re much more interested in something that’s directly applicable to what they’re doing and is going to improve their business in the short or medium term.”
The UC Davis Office of Research, Sponsored Programs Office and other campus administrations have been working to support researchers in adapting to new federal guidelines, working to appeal certain terminations when possible and overall aiding in the shifting research process. The Office of Research has also provided a webpage outlining updates on how executive actions will impact funding, along with the University of California providing a federal updates page.
“We are also trying to provide as much advice to people who are applying for funding [as possible],” Atkinson said. “People are concerned that their proposals may get rejected because they include certain words, mostly related to things like [diversity, equity and inclusion] (DEI). So we’ve been trying to advise people on how they might reframe what they’re proposing to the funding agency in a way that’s likely to be more acceptable under the current circumstances. Not to change their research priorities or abandon their values, but think about different ways of presenting their research.”
Research opportunities remain important for students, especially in regards to their future careers.
“Joining a research team has allowed me to gain a wide variety of necessary skills that I will need in my future career, along with giving me the opportunity to meet new people and make connections with those in the department,” Kardile said. “If this opportunity was not available to me when I gained the position, I would’ve missed out on garnering these skills and for an internship I worked in the past.”
Evelyn Smith, a fourth-year animal science major and a student researcher at the Finno Lab, an Equine Veterinary Genetics lab at the UC Davis Veterinary Hospital, shared how her research experience has positively affected her confidence and future planning.
“This opportunity to do research as an undergrad has meant everything to my academic and professional goals,” Smith said. “When I first started, I didn’t think I would enjoy it, but now I am so glad I pushed myself to keep learning. I’ve found that working in research has helped my brain ask more questions and problem solve, on my own and through using literature. I recently presented my research at the Undergrad Research Conference, which not only is a wonderful thing for my resume, but also exposed me to a new confidence when it comes to public speaking.”
Given the significant levels of uncertainty surrounding university research, Atkinson noted his concern for students who might feel deterred from seeking out futures in research.
“I am worried that people will be discouraged by the current situation, and people who might have pursued careers in science or other areas of research may decide not to,” Atkinson said. “I think that’s going to be one of the greatest harms that comes out of the current situation. I hope people will realize that it’s very important that the federal government not only provides strong support for research, but also reliable and consistent support for research, so people will see a future and careers in discovery.”
Even so, Atkinson believes that the research community is strong enough to persevere through these changes.
“I’m confident that we’ll get through this,” Atkinson said. “I’ve said this in several different venues — researchers are naturally very resilient. Science, or scholarship, doesn’t always go the way you think it’s going to. You have to change course or rethink things, and that’s what our folks do. This is another situation where we may have to change the way we do some things, but issues that our researchers are trying to address haven’t gone away. They still need good answers based on evidence and good scholarship and critical thinking, and that’s what we can provide.”
Throughout this period of unpredictability and change, UC Davis community members are constantly reminded of why research remains vital to education.
“Research is how we learn and advance,” Smith said. “Taking that opportunity away will not only slow our progress but also push people away from digging deeper to answer questions that arise. I’d want campus [and] federal leaders to know that research is not just important, it’s essential — essential for students trying to discover what they want to do with their lives and essential for our society.”
Smith emphasized the importance of investing in all aspects of research, both the work itself and those who dedicate themselves to it.
“When funding is cut and/or politicized, it directly harms students’ futures,” Smith said. “I think we should prioritize research through proper funding and trust our students and other researchers to do the work that pushes our country forward.”
Written by: Graciela Tiu — features@theaggie.org
