May 28, 2009
UW researchers vying for economic stimulus money
The UW could receive $250 million to $300 million as the result of the federal government’s economic stimulus package. It could mean new construction at the University and 1,000 to 1,500 two-year jobs, not to mention a huge amount of research.
UW researchers have scrambled to assemble at least 630 proposals since President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Feb. 17. Those proposals join about 300 previously-filed requests that will be reconsidered.
“This is a great economic opportunity for the University and the state but unfortunately it doesn’t make up for state cuts to the UW budget since with a few exceptions, the money has to be used for research, not instruction,” said Mary Lidstrom, vice provost for research.
Funds will be allocated between now and October, and reporting requirements are heavy compared to usual federal requirements because of emphasis the Obama administration places on transparency and accountability.
Federal research funding at the UW has been fairly flat the last five years, but stimulus money would mean a significant increase: 15 percent each of the next two years. According to Lidstrom, as much as $25 million could be received for renovation and construction. The money will tail off in two years, but if history is an indicator, base funding for research will probably increase.
“We just don’t know how much,” Lidstrom said.
The Obama administration is focusing on science and technology as economic drivers, and the stimulus act includes $20 billion in funding for research, about half of which is likely to go to universities, the rest to companies and federal laboratories. The UW share could be 2.5 percent to 3 percent, based on UW history with major funders such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, Lidstrom said.
She added that $10 billion of stimulus money is going to the National Institutes of Health, and that over the years, the UW has been highly successful in landing NIH money, not to mention funds from NSF. With almost $760 million in annual federal research funding, the UW is second only to Johns Hopkins University in such money.
The jobs will be largely specialized and technical, and mostly for students, post-doctoral researchers, technicians and support staff.
The ARRA Employment Team at the UW has hosted virtual career fairs for graduating seniors, graduate students and recent graduates. Team members cover types of open positions, duties, the hiring process, pay and benefits. The next fair is at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 28, hosted at a UW Employment Web page. UW employees facing layoff from a research-related position or with research experience from another employer may contact their department’s employment specialist for more information on these new opportunities.
Speaking of efforts to meet grant proposal deadlines, Lidstrom said, “Administrative units all over campus have stepped up in a way I’ve never seen before. It’s just amazing. They’re partnering in really positive ways.”
Lynne Chronister, assistant vice provost for research and director of Sponsored Programs, estimates that since early April, she and her 40-person staff have put in almost 500 extra hours each week on tasks related to stimulus money.
Research units across the University collaborated on stimulus proposals. The College of Engineering, School of Medicine, and College of Arts & Sciences together submitted a proposal to the National Institutes of Health’s $1.3-billion fund for major research facilities, proposing a new shared computational infrastructure to support research at the UW.
“These groups had already been working together on a common computational resource, but the opportunity for stimulus funds accelerated the collaboration,” said Matthew O’Donnell, dean of the College of Engineering.
“Our faculty have done a wonderful job delivering competitive grants under very tight deadlines,” O’Donnell added. College members have submitted 70 grant applications as of early this week. A major impact to the College, O’Donnell said, is likely to be major funding for new equipment and infrastructure.
Many faculty members in Bioengineering and other School of Medicine units are applying for research grants through the NIH’s Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research, a $200 million program that calls for research on 15 health topics ranging from genomics to smart biomaterials. Xiaohu Gao, an assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering, almost didn’t apply.
“At the very beginning I was debating a lot whether I should give it a shot or not,” said Gao, who is skeptical about the amount of funding compared to number of applications. “I decided to go through with it because I couldn’t imagine that I would not do it,” he said. “Particularly in the early stage investigator, I would hate to see that I’d missed the opportunity.”
The chances are slim: by last week the NIH had received 20,000 Challenge Grant applications, more than 10 times what administrators had expected. Science magazine calls it a “tidal wave” of grant applications, and the success rate will likely be about 2 percent.
In the end, Gao submitted two proposals. The first is a $1 million challenge grant to design nano-sized medical probes. For the second, colleagues in Bioengineering, Urology, and Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences proposed a center developing nanotechnology to detect and treat prostate cancer.
Writing the 12-page proposals in just a few weeks was “intense,” Gao said.
“It’s shorter [than the standard 25- or 40-page proposals] but I wouldn’t say it’s easier. Because you have to condense all your ideas, your proof of capability and some of your past track record into 12 pages.”
The timeframe wasn’t long enough to dream up new ideas.
“The one-month or two-month timeframe is just for writing,” Gao said. “You can’t work on preliminary results. You can’t start to find collaborators. Everything has to be already in place.”
Dr. Lynn Rose, a research associate professor at the UW School of Medicine, filed a $1 million proposal for a clinical study of biomarkers. Such markers could be used to determine effectiveness of anti-inflammatory drugs on cystic fibrosis. Rose also filed a $2 million request for supplementary funds for the Institute of Translational Health Science. The supplement would help move novel therapeutics from bench to bedside.
Rose had three weeks to write each proposal, whereas she usually has at least two months apiece. But she’s crossed her fingers. “In the cystic fibrosis community, there’s a lot of interest in these biomarkers.”
Gail Jarvik, Professor of Medicine and Head of the UW’s Division of Medical Genetics, spent last weekend finishing grant proposals. Jarvik has submitted five grant proposals and is affiliated with three others, all looking at the genetic basis of diseases, from autism to Alzheimer’s to heart disease.
“It was crazy,” said Jarvik. Typically she submits one or two proposals in each four-month funding cycle.
But if the proposals are successful, she said, she could not only help the economy by hiring more staff. “We could also make five years’ worth of progress in one year. The [genetic] technologies are there and they’re available, but they’re expensive.”
Administrators have been crucial in dealing with the crunch, Jarvik said. Beverly Berg-Rood, an administrator in Medical Genetics, was in the office on Sunday working on some of the 19 ARRA grants she is helping submit. Berg-Rood got to work at 6 a.m. Wednesday to begin uploading proposals to the NIH. The NIH system is moving slowly as Friday’s application deadline approaches.
The last of Jarvik’s stimulus grant proposals will be in this week, but she won’t be taking a break. She’s submitting two grants that are part of the regular funding cycle by July 5.
“I think everyone’s concern is you don’t really know the success rate of the challenge grants, because there’s been an enormous response,” Jarvik said. “So we still have to go forward with our usual ways of supporting our research.”
Click here for more information on the UW response to the stimulus package.
