The Trump administration has frozen funding for some federal grant programs that pay for research at universities. The National Institutes of Health also announced they would be making cuts to medical research. Court battles have challenged these cuts. Hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money pays for research at universities across the Commonwealth each year.
So far, 26 grant-funded projects at Virginia Tech have been affected in some way, and 15 have been notified they should pause or stop work, according to spokesman Mark Owczarski.
Eight researchers at Virginia Tech who either are impacted or are concerned they could be affected by cuts spoke with Radio IQ. Most asked us not to print their name, for fear that speaking out could put their projects or the university in danger of retaliation by the Department of Government Efficiency. These researchers, whose expertise range from engineering, biology and biomedical science, described a feeling of uncertainty and a lack of clear communication from the agencies that fund their research.
“I have three post docs in the lab right now. All of their contracts need to be renewed this year,” said Frank Aylward, an associate professor at Virginia Tech who researches viruses. “So yes, it’s very frightening.”
Aylward said he expects to see researchers seek jobs out of the country, if the federal government continues to scale down on publicly funded research.
“We all want cures for cancers. We all want cures for infectious disease. So widespread cuts to research in these areas is clearly not a good thing,” Alyward said. His lab has been awarded grants by the National Institutes of Health, but he isn’t certain if that funding is affected by cuts.
In addition to the losses for society, he’s concerned what could happen to the local economy if there are widespread layoffs at Virginia Tech.
“These are people who aren’t gonna be living in the area, they’re not gonna be shopping in local places,” Aylward said. “They're not going to be renting apartments. All of this is going to have a major impact on the economy of the area.”
So far, Virginia Tech hasn’t issued any hiring freezes or layoffs as a result of the cuts. Several other universities across the country have.
Kate Langwig, who studies infectious diseases in wildlife at Virginia Tech, said some research projects she’s working on may have to pause work and lay off workers.
“Federal agencies that previously told us we would get an extra year have now reversed course and are telling us that they are unsure of whether we will have an extra year to spend the funds or not,” Langwig said. “This has the biggest impact on personnel. People employed on our grants are left feeling unsure whether they will have jobs in the future.”
Graduate students, who assist with a majority of the research done at Virginia Tech, are also anxious about whether they’ll have a job next year. Ronnie Mondal is president of the Virginia Tech graduate and professional student senate.
“It’s just weird,” Mondal said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen.” He said in addition to job uncertainty, many graduate students are also asking how changes in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies under the Trump Administration may affect them.
International students are also watching to see how immigration policies might put their status to study in the United States at risk. Mondal is an international student, and he said he’s monitoring whether he should leave the country to attend a conference.
Mondal said he and other graduate students are carefully watching if Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors makes a statement at its meeting Tuesday, March 25 that might signal whether graduate students will be affected by potential cuts or policy changes.
“What I am trying to think of right now is that we’ll just wait till the board meeting ends, [if] they will have some sort of an opinion, some sort of a direction they want to take the university in,” Mondal said. “And we will look at that and then we’ll decide. Right now I think it’s very hard to tell.”
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
