Research at the University of Connecticut is endangered as federal funding freezes threaten the education of the next generation of researchers, a computational biology professor at UConn said.
Some UConn students looking to continue their degree in graduate programs are having their acceptance to programs rescinded, according to Jill Wegrzyn, director of UConn’s computational biology core. Researchers don’t know if they can afford to support those students financially without federal funding, she said.
“I work with a lot of students who are getting very disappointing news, and as a result of that, we will not have, you know, scientists being trained in this country,” said Wegrzyn.
The Trump administration issued an executive order in January freezing government funding of several federal institutions, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
The NIH is the largest funder of biomedical research in the world, according to its website. The NSF makes up about 25% of federal support for university research, according to the NSF website. Despite a federal judge’s pause on the order, UConn is preparing for the reality of the immense cuts.
“A lot of the folks that are impacted by NIH funding in particular have already seen freezes in funding and are not being able to, you know, put in for new research funding,” said Wegrzyn.
Federal organizations are responsible for funding various functions of research labs. Usually, the only person in a lab directly funded by the university is the professor in charge of the lab, said Wegrzyn. Most of the other staff are funded by research grants, including graduate students’ lab salaries, she said.
“A lot of folks are very concerned about how they’re going to be able to continue to support their graduate students, post-docs, and so on,” said Wegrzyn.
Edward Russell, a doctoral student studying molecular and cell biology, works in a lab funded by NIH grants. If his lab loses federal funding, he will have to turn to assistant teaching in order to get paid, he said. But more time teaching means less time to do research. Luckily, he said his lab recently received a grant from the NIH.
“If we lose the funding, grants that are already filled aren’t just going to vanish,” said Russel.
To prepare for the possibility of future grant losses, some labs are looking toward private partnerships, said Russell. Some labs are already funded by private companies, he added, but that type of funding can be much more restrictive.
Beyond small student-level grants and looking for teaching assistant positions, “there’s not much I can do to be ready,” said Russell.
Some students said they aren’t aware of the status of their lab’s funding. Dester Cuomo, a second-semester student majoring in physiology and neurobiology, works in a genetics research lab. As an undergraduate lab assistant, Cuomo said he didn’t know exactly where his lab funding came from. As such, he said he is unsure if his lab is in danger of having its funding taken away.
If his lab gets shut down, Cuomo said he would simply try to find another one. Doctoral students, however, don’t necessarily have that option, as lab work often supports them financially, said Russell.
UConn’s biology department is attempting to mitigate the effects of funding freezes on students, but “it’s very hard to predict what’s going to happen,” said Wegrzyn.
According to Wegrzyn, the biology department has been trying to communicate with students about what is going on, as well as providing resources to help them find alternative options.
A Hands Off rally centered on science funding, as well as other federal issues affecting the school, occurred at UConn’s Storrs campus on April 17. Representatives at the state and federal level attended, showing their support for the university.
The cuts go beyond just research. The application of Wegrzyn’s research on forest health is being limited, as federal workers in the U.S. Department of Agriculture responsible for integrating her research are affected by budget cuts, she said. Despite the freeze on the order, funding is still in limbo for several other universities as well.
The Trump administration declared that it would withdraw $2.2 billion in research funding from Harvard for non-compliance with the administration’s demands, including punishment of student protestors on campus and removal of diversity, equity and inclusion, according to AP News.
Columbia suffered a similar fate, but after losing $400 million in funding, the university complied with Trump’s demands, AP News reported..
Wegrzyn offered some advice for students and faculty affected by funding freezes, telling them to not lose hope.
“I would say the best thing one can do right now is to not be discouraged because it’s less about you and more about the environment these things are coming in,” said Wegrzyn. “I think that my advice is to try and stop this from happening.”