Marquette’s $1.6 million federal grant for U-RISE, an undergraduate research program, was canceled by the National Institute of Health April 1.
Laurieann Klockow, assistant director for U-RISE, said the program received a cease operations notice from NIH March 27 and told students about it the next day. Less than a week later, they received their termination letter.
The Trump administration’s new policies include limiting NIH funding for indirect costs to 15%. Indirect costs are considered funds needed for the operation of a research institution, but not specific to a particular research project.
A federal judge in Massachusetts has blocked the policy, but universities all over the country are experiencing funding cuts, and waiting for next steps in terms of legal action.
U-RISE was in its third year of a five-year grant, and the program is working with the offices of research and sponsored programs and university general counsel to see how to proceed. Currently, there are four students in this year’s cohort, and they’ll receive benefits until the end of the year.
The program offers students up to $16,000 a year in tuition support and a $12,000 stipend. Students apply sophomore year, and conduct research with professors their junior and senior year. The research projects span across engineering, arts & sciences and health sciences.
U-RISE students are working on projects about AI in prosthetics, spinal-cord injury recovery, improving motor control, understanding opioid addiction and early detection of Alzheimer’s disease.
Klockow said the program will still provide students with mentorship and guidance during their studies at Marquette, but she said the loss in financial support will impact the student’s ability to dedicate 10-15 hours a week to research without having to find another job.
“Without U-RISE financial support, students also miss out on funding to present their work at scientific conferences- which are opportunities to build confidence, practice scientific communication and network with other scientists,” Klockow said.
Angela Frey, associate dean for academic affairs, is on the leadership team for U-RISE, and she said Marquette’s administration has been in constant contact with the program’s faculty about the changes.
“We feel they have been in solidarity with us as we try to navigate through this…terminating grants is rare and this large-scale termination is really unprecedented,” Frey said. “We feel like the administration is really working with us to try to figure this all out.”
This story was written by Sophia Tiedge. She can be reached at sophia.tiedge@marquette.edu.
