UIC Faculty Protest Proposed Trump Administration Cuts to Federal Research
Faculty Fear Devastating Consequences for Research and Communities
Professor Tim Koh has spent years researching ways to improve healing for people with diabetic wounds, but with federal funding for his latest project set to expire this month, the future of his work and career is now uncertain.
Koh, a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, said he’s one of thousands of researchers potentially affected by the Trump administration’s cuts at the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Science Foundation.
A Call to Action
Illinois’ attorney general has joined other states battling the cuts in court, but dozens of faculty at UIC and other area universities are taking their fight to the streets. On Wednesday, they rallied outside the school’s student center with signs that read: “Science saves lives” and “Public health is a lifeline, not a line item.”
Aaron Krall, a UIC professor and president of UIC United Faculty, said the university’s Chicago campus alone receives over $500 million in federal funding to “conduct life-saving research.”
“It is research that is essential,” Krall said. “It is research that is nonpartisan. It is research that improves lives and improves communities.”
Concerns for Communities and Graduate Students
Faculty members expressed concern for the communities impacted by their work and the graduate students they are training in their labs. Koh said that if his funding is not renewed, he will be forced to make difficult decisions for himself and the members of his lab.
“It’s going to be devastating for their careers,” Koh said. “It’s going to potentially put an end to my research career, and we won’t be able to develop these new therapies for diabetic wounds. It’s the worst situation that I’ve encountered in my 25-year career.”
Impact on Artificial Intelligence Research
Barbara Di Eugenio, a UIC professor who studies the ways artificial intelligence can address health inequities, said two of her grants from the National Science Foundation were recently flagged as “woke DEI research,” and are currently under investigation.
“The way they flag these grants is that they look for words like women, female, minority, bias, green energy; that gets you on the list of 3,500 grants,” Di Eugenio said, referring to the number of National Science Foundation grants flagged as “questionable” by the Senate Commerce Committee because they “promoted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) or advanced neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda.”
Uncertainty for Clinical Psychology Students
Margaret Wardle, head of UIC’s clinical psychology doctoral program, said the future is uncertain for her students who are waiting to find out where they will match for clinical training.
The number of internship positions available is unknown, according to Wardle. Some internship positions are inside the federal government and affected by hiring freezes, and others are located inside medical centers that receive federal funding.
If internship positions are pulled this year and later restored, Wardle said there will be an “enormous ripple effect,” slowing down the process at “a time when we need to be graduating more psychologists, not fewer.”
Conclusion
The proposed Trump administration cuts to federal research funding have sent shockwaves through the academic community, with UIC faculty and other researchers across the country speaking out against the devastating consequences for their work and the communities they serve. As the debate continues, it is clear that the future of research and innovation hangs in the balance.
FAQs
* What are the proposed cuts to federal research funding?
The Trump administration has proposed significant cuts to federal research funding at the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Science Foundation.
* How will these cuts affect researchers and their work?
Researchers are facing uncertainty about the future of their projects and careers, with some already experiencing funding cuts and others facing the threat of future cuts.
* What is the impact on communities?
The cuts will have a significant impact on communities, including those affected by the work of these researchers, as well as those who rely on the services and programs funded by the federal government.
* What is being done to fight these cuts?
Illinois’ attorney general has joined other states in battling the cuts in court, and faculty at UIC and other area universities are taking their fight to the streets, rallying against the proposed cuts and advocating for the importance of federal research funding.
