The National Science Foundation once again suspended research grants at UC Berkeley, renewing the federal government’s stalled efforts to cut research funding on campus.
Environmental Law Clinic director Claudia Polsky, who represents campus researchers in a class action lawsuit against the federal government challenging its cuts to federal research funding, said 18 grants have been terminated.
“The university is engaged with the government on matters pertaining to research grants, and remains committed to compliance with all federal laws, rules and regulations,” said campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof in an email.
The NSF declined to comment.
The terminations, which UC Berkeley alerted affected researchers to on April 17, come nearly one year after the federal government attempted to cut 11 other grants on campus. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against those cuts, ordering the reinstatement of the grants.
While many of those terminations targeted research focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, affected researchers said the newest set of cuts appears aimed at projects allegedly receiving foreign funding. Markita Landry, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, said campus legal counsel stated her project was cancelled for allegedly receiving funding from the United Kingdom.
“I, to the best of my knowledge, have never had any funding from the United Kingdom,” Landry said.
The NSF requires grantees to disclose foreign funding but does not prohibit foreign support of projects. According to Landry, campus legal counsel has been working with affected researchers to submit updated documentation to reflect any foreign funding.
Landry’s research, which the NSF has funded since 2021, focuses on the genetic modification of plants. After the termination, she said she has struggled to keep up with the costs of running her lab.
Landry has been able to keep her current staff on payroll using funds from a startup she founded. However, she said that while her lab usually takes two PhD students after they finish rotations, she does not plan to take any in the coming fall. She does not know if she could fund their positions.
She said she has had to cancel projects slated for the fall, and she has seen colleagues consider “not applying for grants at all” in the future. She said that research proposals can take more than 100 hours to compile.
“We’re no longer doing the research at a scale that we promised the NSF,” Landry said. “We’ll publish what we can but it won’t be complete.”