A message to the campus from Mike Malone and Laura Vandenberg on 3/4/25
Dear Colleagues,
The federal research environment continues to change, and the uncertainties continue to raise concerns on our campus, and across the nation, about how changes to federal funding and disruptions to funding mechanisms will impact our work. The university’s federal actions page remains our primary campus resource to follow research activities and guidance from the Office of General Counsel, the state Attorney General, and our campus’ response to executive orders and other government activities.
We write today with additional guidance on campus research activities that are impacted by the uncertain future of federal research funding (details below).
We also invite you to a second Research & Engagement Campus Listening Session, scheduled for Wednesday, March 12, 2025, from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. in LSL S330 (also available via Zoom). To receive a Zoom link, please register here using @email for your email. We strongly encourage in-person attendance. Please submit questions ahead of time so that we can make the best use of our time. Submit questions here.
Many PIs are looking to diversify their funding portfolios and are interested in pursuing sponsored research opportunities with industry partners, state funding agencies, and private foundations. In the weeks ahead, there will be information sessions about how to best prepare for these diverse funding opportunities. The first such session, Private Foundations Support for Research & Scholarship, offered by the Office of Foundation Relations in partnership with the Office of Research Development, will be held on Monday, March 10, 2025, from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. via Zoom. Please register here.
Researchers at UMass Amherst continue to do excellent work despite the many disruptions affecting our scholarship and many aspects of work and home-life. We recognize that the past several weeks have posed numerous challenges, and we appreciate all you are doing to continue your work. As always, we reiterate our continued commitment to supporting you and your research, and to our values, which remain unchanged.
Thank you.
Mike Malone
Vice Chancellor for Research & Engagement
Laura Vandenberg
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research & Engagement
Vice Provost for Research
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Pre-Award
In our prior messages to campus, we advised researchers to continue to submit proposals to federal agencies, but noted that PIs and research staff should carefully check deadlines and re-read funding announcements to make sure that the funding opportunity continues to be offered and that your submission materials match the requirements indicated. This continues to be our advice.
In the months of January and February, more than 240 proposals were submitted from campus to a diversity of sponsors, including more than 30 to the Department of Health and Human Services, and more than 55 to the National Science Foundation. We appreciate the efforts of PIs and other key personnel in continuing to do this work. We also thank the valiant efforts of research administration staff in departments, schools, colleges, and in the Office of Pre-Award Services, for their efforts to get proposals submitted.
As always, all proposals must arrive at OPAS at least five business days prior to the submission deadline for review. As PIs consider new sources of funding, any researchers that wish to submit proposals to foundations are asked to contact the Office of Foundation Relations (email) as early as possible during proposal development. Proposals that need to be submitted by a registered 501(c)3 are officially transmitted to sponsors by the Foundation. For this reason, the Office of Foundation Relations needs to be notified of an anticipated proposal submission at least 7 business days before the sponsor deadline (2 business days before the OPAS deadline).
Post-Award
We continue to remind PIs and staff that if you receive any communications from funding agencies about existing federal awards or programs, please share those with the Office of Post-Award Management (OPAM) ([email protected]) and the Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement ([email protected]) so that we can assist you with making appropriate changes, if needed. If OPAM receives communications from a funding agency about your award, an OPAM grants administrator will contact you and provide guidance about how best to proceed. We extend our sincere thanks to staff in departments, schools, colleges, and the Office of Post-Award Management, for assisting PIs in responding to inquiries from federal sponsors. We recognize that our post-award staff are doing everything they can to allow researchers to maintain their focus on the research itself.
New awards from many federal agencies have slowed down or have been temporarily stopped due to delays in grant review. We have previously advised PIs to be cautious about relying on No-Cost Extensions (NCEs). We continue to hear anecdotal reports from other R1 universities in Massachusetts about NCEs being denied or rescinded after approval, although no such cases have occurred on the UMass Amherst campus to date. Please ensure that PIs are aware of grant end dates and continue to follow our guidance on requesting NCEs in a timely manner (typically no more than 90 days before the end-date of a grant). When you request a NCE, communicate with your UMass Research Accountant to review your expenses to assess the remaining needs of the project. PIs should not preemptively reach out to the sponsor or your program officer, unless this is a requirement to request the NCE.
If you have experienced specific disruptions of any federally funded projects, e.g., due to the NIH inaction on new awards or competing renewals, please send a short note describing this to [email protected].
Finally, it is critical that all key personnel on federally sponsored research are up-to-date on their disclosures, research security, and other required compliance trainings. Meeting these requirements is not only essential for the integrity of your research, it is also a requirement of the terms and conditions of research awards. We are now hearing anecdotal evidence that grants are being rescinded in instances where research compliance trainings were not completed by key personnel. To review your training and disclosure requirements, please consult this new Research Compliance Training Matrix. If you have any questions about whether your trainings are up to date, please contact the Office of Research Compliance ([email protected]).
Future Planning
Graduate Admissions: At our last R&E campus listening session, and at the listening session held for graduate students, there were several questions about graduate admissions for the fall. Many universities have scaled back or paused offers to new PhD students in anticipation of reduced federal funding. At the R&E listening session, we encouraged graduate admissions committees to be conservative in their admissions offers. As programs determine how many students they can afford to support on research assistantships, we urge you to only consider funding that is already in-hand with Notice of Awards in place as well as the duration of the awarded funding. More guidance on graduate admissions will be coming from both the Provost and the Dean of the Graduate School in the days and weeks ahead. In the meantime, we encourage all faculty to have open and thoughtful conversations with their graduate students about current and future funding.
Planning for a possible government shut-down: There is an increasing possibility that the government will shut down if a Continuing Resolution is not enacted by March 14th. A government shut-down can impact individuals paid on certain types of grants, and a longer government shut-down could impact all federally funded research and projects if the university is unable to charge the government for research costs. We will communicate with campus in the days ahead with contingency planning in the event the government does shut down.
Changes to Indirect Costs: We continue to monitor decisions from federal courts regarding the Temporary Restraining Order, which has blocked the federal administration from enacting a plan to cut indirect costs on NIH grants to 15%. If this situation changes, we will communicate to campus and provide guidance to research administrators regarding budget preparations for new proposals.
Mitigation Funding: The Provost, Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement, and the Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance are working with the deans of schools and colleges to create a fund matching program that can be used to mitigate lost federal funding and other federal funding gaps. In the weeks ahead, we will communicate to campus about the eligibility criteria, fund matching requirements, and processes to request these funds. However, at this time, please plan conservatively and only proceed with research activities supported by active awards.