UM to partially fund faculty research impacted by federal cuts

By Sarah Atwood, satwood@detroitnews.com

The College of Michigan will partially fund school analysis tasks amid cuts to federal analysis funding, the college stated.

The analysis funding program will launch this month and help tasks on all three UM campuses – Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint, based on the announcement Friday within the College Report, a university-run information supply for school. This system is meant to offer short-term help to take care of analysis continuity, help analysis employees and stay aggressive for future exterior funding, UM stated within the article.

An analogous however separate program will probably be run via the college’s medical faculty.

“This program isn’t meant to exchange federal funding or create a long-term security web,” Arthur Lupia, vice chairman for analysis and innovation, stated within the article. “It’s a focused, one-time funding to assist excellent UM researchers transition throughout a time of change and proceed doing vital work that serves the individuals of Michigan and the world.”

Researchers accountable for tasks, referred to as principal investigators, can apply for partial help for as much as one yr below this system, the college stated. Researchers could request as much as 35% of the common annual direct prices initially requested within the investigator’s federal proposal, as much as a most of $150,000 per yr. Central college help covers as much as half of analysis prices, with the rest coated by the researcher’s faculty, faculty or unit.

All cash have to be spent on UM, the college stated.

UM is among the many nation’s prime public universities when it comes to analysis expenditures. In 2024, UM’s annual analysis expenditures reached a document $2.04 billion – of that quantity, federal funding amounted to $1.17 billion, accounting for greater than half of the college’s whole.

UM expects to obtain $163 million much less from the federal authorities within the 2026 funds yr, based on funds projections authorized by the Board of Regents in June.

Michigan State College introduced an identical funding program final April, known as the Jenison Fund. The fund would supply strategic, focused, time-limited help to graduate college students who’ve misplaced funding and school members experiencing disruptions in analysis funding, based on MSU.

Michigan President Kevin Guskiewicz stated a complete of as much as $5 million per yr could be allotted to the fund over the subsequent three years.

Thus far, the fund has awarded assets to 35 tasks, MSU spokesperson Amber McCann stated.

In October, Guskiewicz introduced that 74 federally funded tasks at MSU had been terminated by the federal authorities, with a multi-year influence estimated at $104 million. On the time, 86 tasks had been paused or affected by shutdown orders.