Federal funding freezes are already having an impact in the Capital Region, where research is a key sector of the economy.
Dozens of UAlbany researchers and local leaders gathered at the University at Albany Thursday to discuss how freezes and cuts to the National Institutes of Health and other federal grants are affecting SUNY schools and public teaching hospitals.
SUNY's Research Foundation estimates it will lose $79 million in current grants, which includes more than $21 million through June. A coalition of 22 state attorneys general is suing the Trump administration after the NIH said it would slash funding for “indirect cost” reimbursements, covering things like lab costs, faculty, infrastructure and utilities.
This year, UAlbany has received $2.6 million in NIH funding. And the college says in fiscal year 2024, about a quarter of its research and development funding was from the federal government.
Paul Morgan, Director of UAlbany’s Institute for Social and Health Equity, says it’s hard to plan for potential cuts.
“You'll hear some reporting that, OK, we're going to reconstitute, we're going to re bid contracts, or we're going to reconstitute the agency. As far as I know, there are no real plans to do that," Morgan said. "So, the data will be lost, even though substantial taxpayer investments have already been made, the taxpayers will have no benefit from those outlays, in terms of findings and the agency, I think, is likely, from my perspective, to die.”
He says if funding is cut permanently, backing from private foundations cannot make up for the losses. Morgan says the federal government depends on non-government research facilities. He says federal support maintains an ecosystem of knowledge for the nation.
“There just are not enough private foundation dollars to support data collection at the scale that the federal government is able to provide. And those data collection efforts benefit us,” Morgan said. “We're able to do research on that data collection that you know supports our infrastructure of students and postdocs [postdoctoral students] and research scientists. But more importantly, it informs the public about pressing problems that we can help them better address through evidence-based policy making.”
Officials say research could be derailed with the Trump administration’s orders to freeze federal grants and place a 15 percent cap on indirect costs payments to colleges and universities participating in NIH-funded research. The administration says it’s making the cuts to find billions of dollars in savings.
The university says research into breast cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, myotonic dystrophy, infertility, and other emerging public health threats is being threatened. Officials say each year, NIH grants support roughly 100 researchers and staff and 200 students at UAlbany.
JoEllen Welsh is a Distinguished and Empire Innovation Professor for the College of Integrated Health Sciences, the Cancer Research Center, and the RNA Institute. She says the funding covers more than expensive equipment.
“These indirect costs were abruptly and drastically cut by DOGE over so many unseen costs of the research. Examples include the facilities, the lights, the utilities, the building up keep and grant administration, like purchasing and HR and financial tracking of grant monies, safety procedures and training, compliance issues and regulations, disposal of biohazardous waste, etc. And each university negotiates these costs based on their specific situation,” Welsh said. “So, it's important to note, finally, that universities provide the infrastructure, such as this beautiful ETEC building, but the labs will be silent and empty without federal funding.”
There are also growing concerns on college campuses about President Trump’s move to dismantle the Department of Education.
