A recent freeze on contracts and grants awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency could potentially affect millions of research dollars at UW-Madison.
The Trump administration instituted the freeze Tuesday, though the EPA has not issued any formal notices to the university about the status of existing or pending grants. UW-Madison officials awaiting confirmation of the freeze have said they are worried by the news.
“We are very concerned if our EPA funding is frozen—for grants we have now, those that are pending, the effects on future funding. These are challenging times for our researchers on a state and federal level,” said Natasha Kassulke, spokeswoman for the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education. “It is a competitive environment, made even more so by cuts to funding.”
UW-Madison had seven grants with EPA funding in 2016 with a total value of $2.5 million. There are also four pending proposals which would account for almost $2 million in funding. While the pending grants are most likely to be affected by the freeze, it remains to be seen whether the existing grants would see their funding cut.
“Research is a key function of every member of the faculty at UW-Madison. Funding, such as that awarded by EPA, contributes to a robust research culture at UW-Madison and makes it possible for universities like the UW to attract the best students and faculty,” Kassulke said.
EPA grants cover a wide variety of research topics, such as developing screening tools to detect environmental toxins and ecological restoration in Latino communities.
Most of the grants deal with issues that are of local importance, such as water qualities in Madison lakes and rivers. From 2005 to 2008, Steven Carpenter, director of the UW-Madison Center for Limnology, conducted an important survey of environmental problems in the Yahara river watershed.
The freeze on grants comes as part of a larger effort by the administration to control the growth of government by temporarily halting federal hiring in all sectors of government besides military, national security and public safety until a long-term plan is in place.
