Researchers at the University of Rhode Island are facing high levels of uncertainty after an executive order on federal funding was passed on Jan. 20 under President Donald Trump, halting leasing and permitting on projects.
Since the funding freeze, the university has received stop-work orders for five projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development, according to Elizabeth Buchanan, associate vice president of research administration.
“I think it’s really important to recognize there’s a lot that we just don’t know right now,” Buchanan said. “Everybody needs to realize this is a marathon, not a sprint.”
The National Institutes of Health announced the halt of a 15% cap on indirect cost rates for all grants, according to a statement released by URI on Tuesday. On Monday, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha stood with 21 other states in a lawsuit challenging these rates.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell decided that a temporary restraining order would be enacted for the 22 states involved in the lawsuit, allowing them to preserve the right to use their previous rate change, according to a statement released by URI on Tuesday. URI is enacting a freeze under new spending of Fund 110.
URI has been awarded over $130 million in research grants within the past year, according to an article from Rhody Today.
A presidential action temporarily withdrawing offshore wind leasing from all areas on the outer continental shelf was enacted by President Trump on Jan. 20 according to David Bidwell, a professor at the Department of Marine Affairs. Permitting in these areas will not resume until an assessment of the environmental, economic and ecological impacts is completed and reviewed.
While many offshore wind proposals are at stake, projects that have already passed a record of decision are protected, according to Bidwell. Local projects, such as Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts and Revolution Wind in Rhode Island and Connecticut, fall into this category.
“There’s still a lot to think about, even if future projects are held up or put on ice,” Bidwell said. “It’s not as if the offshore wind industry has disappeared.”
“As a professor and as a principal investigator on a project, there are people who depend on me and depend on the funding, and [I’m] concerned about the welfare of the people who depend on the funding that we receive, ” Bidwell said. “I think the biggest thing for right now is just this mood of uncertainty, and I think that’s hard on people.”
As a vital part of the research administration at URI, Buchanan said a lot of people look up to her as a source of reassurance. She said it is difficult to lose that ability to reassure people amid all the uncertainty.
“We’re used to having the answers,” Buchanan said. “We’re used to being able to tell people, okay, here’s what the guidance is.”
As a member of the Committee on Congressional Relations and the Association of Public Lands grant institutions, URI has been staying updated on all the latest information regarding the funding freeze.
“What I’ve taken away from a lot of the webinars and communications from those groups this week is, we are standing together as a research community,” Buchanan said. “And while we may not have answers today, research is going to continue.”
Despite funding uncertainty, researchers still hold strength and control in how they deal with what they can control, according to Bidwell.
“I think we’ve had to recenter ourselves and just focus on our work and doing good work, because there are some things we can’t control,” Bidwell said. “I think we’re in a phase of continuing to do good work and knowing that we will have to deal with decisions and obstacles as they arise.”
The uneasiness of the situation is not inevitable and past experiences have proven such, according to Buchanan.
“We’ve been down this road to some degree before, and one example is the early days of HIV [and] AIDS and that epidemic and the research response to that and we made it through that time,” Buchanan said “We will get through this together.”
During this time, it is important for researchers to “dig into their resilience” and find the why in what they do, according to Buchanan.
“We’re all so committed to the work that we do and I think that is something that can help us,” Buchanan said. “[Research] is something that we believe in and we’re resilient.”
