Rice launches alternative funding program amid federal research cuts
Rice is launching the Bridge Funding Program for faculty whose federal funding for research projects has been reduced or removed. The program was announced via the Provost’s newsletter April 24.
Amid nationwide threats to research funding, over $10 million of research funding is proposed to be cut at Rice by the government, President Reggie DesRoches said in a KHOU 11 interview. Two-thirds of undergraduate students are involved in research with Rice faculty, DesRoches said.
The program provides funding for up to one year for graduate students, postdocs and research faculty whose federal grants have been terminated or reduced. Costs will be split, with half from the researcher’s department and the other half from centralized university sources.
Funds for the Bridge Funding Program will be drawn from several sources, including the Rice endowment, Provost Amy Dittmar said.
“The operating budget provides funds for strategic investments in addition to the ongoing operations,” Dittmar wrote in an email to the Thresher. “The centralized bridge funding will be funded as part of the university’s strategic investments reflecting the strategic importance of faculty research.”
Rice currently withdraws about $400 million or 5% of the university’s endowment each year as part of operating expenses, which represents around 40% of the university’s operating revenue. About half of this revenue goes to financial aid.
“Bridge funding is intended to be a temporary support mechanism, structured as a cost-sharing partnership among the central administration, school, principal investigator’s department and the PI,” the Bridge Funding Program website reads.
The university is currently under investigation by the Department of Education for “race-exclusionary practices” in graduate student admissions. If found guilty, Rice could lose access to more federal funding.
Rice has also testified in lawsuits against the National Institutes of Health’s proposed funding cuts, and faculty have offered testimony on the value of research funding in Washington, D.C. and Austin, Texas, Dittmar said.
The university’s Office of Research Development has provided resources for bearing scrutiny, including adding a decision tree for grant seekers to avoid language related to diversity, equity and inclusion that could trigger flags for research funding under the Executive Orders and Funding section of its website.
In addition, the Office of Access and Institutional Excellence is naming a director of communications and projects in free expression, Dittmar wrote.
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