The University of Connecticut said it will focus on new research priorities amidst President Donald Trump’s administration
Lindsay DiStefano, interim vice president for research, innovation and entrepreneurship at UConn, talked about how the university’s research has been impacted by new policies. Any time a new administration comes in, there are new priorities given to federal agencies that fund research. Investigators look to things to emphasize and projects to pursue that align with those priorities, according to DiStefano.
“We get to support research from all parts of the university that go into education and health and manufacturing … you name it,” DiStefano said. She said that the wide range of UConn’s research is helpful when these new priorities emerge. “A lot of UConn’s research infrastructure is built around priorities that matter to every administration, being a public land grant, sea grant university,” DiStefano said. In the past 10 years, UConn has put the public land grant mission first within research priorities, DiStefano said, along with having research investigators look at how their research projects can help improve society. DiStefano said with the Trump administration, there has been unusual research terminations across the country.
“I think by having such … robust and diversified … research projects, and by leaning into how our research impacts society, that made it more important than ever to make sure investigators are sharing the story,” DiStefano said. A big focus for UConn has been recognizing that a lot of people outside of universities don’t realize how incredible and impactful the university research it, she said.
“We’re trying to get much better at helping investigators kind of share with the public how important our work is,” DiStefano said.
DiStefano said she likes to focus on opportunities.
“We’ve seen over the past several months … a lot of people in our university coming together and saying, how can we make sure that the public understands the impact of our work, and how can we work together to create even more impactful research that can really make a difference,” DiStefano said. Stephanie Reitz, UConn spokesperson, said the university always had a strong research enterprise.
“Federal priorities are consistently changing, but the university is always going to be moving forward with advancing whatever new knowledge is out there, in compliance with whatever regulations are,” Reitz said.
A letter from UConn sent in the previous semester talked more about these changes. The letter listed fields that the new administration may concentrate on and will be more likely to receive federal support through funding: energy independence, AI and quantum technologies, defense (national security), manufacturing, healthy living, cancer,
genetics/genomics, technology development, workforce development and community impact through broadening participation in higher education, research and development, innovation and entrepreneurship.
In a Board of Trustees meeting held on June 25, UConn President Radenka Maric gave a presentation that anticipates there will be a decrease in funding for federal research in the upcoming years.
The presentation stated that $3.7 million on previously cancelled grants have been restored at UConn. In Maric’s presentation, it stated that 2,650 UConn faculty, staff and students are paid in whole or in part on grants. In another presentation on research grants that were presented to Connecticut legislators from UConn, there are more concerns about federal research funding.
“Federal research grants that will be or are terminated in funding can be expected to be negatively impacted by a loss of jobs in CT residents employed through research, fewer solutions to community problems and a loss of tax base to CT,” the presentation stated. In the presentation, it stated that “UConn is remaining viable through aligning with federal priorities that are areas of strength for the university.”