UW Research

Horizons Newsletter – October 2025

Published October 21, 2025

A Message from the Vice Provost

We start the academic year with some good news but significant challenges ahead. The good news is that, despite grant terminations and award delays, FY25 was the best year on record for expenditures and close to the top for awards. The bad news is that this is mainly due to early successes and grants being reinstated due to legal actions. Awards were up substantially in the first six months, but 24% below a 5-year mean in the second six months. The year ahead is full of uncertainties, with a current federal shutdown, large proposed cuts to research funding in all agencies, and a likely reduction and change in the model for recovering the costs of research that are currently classified as “indirects.” Federal funding is roughly 80% of UW’s sponsored research, and cuts target research topics in several areas of strength for UW. At the same time, there are troubling developments that could hamper international collaboration and training of foreign scholars. Together, the shifts could have significant impacts on the UW research enterprise. Of course, it is important to recognize that there will also be new opportunities in areas of strength for UW (e.g. AI, quantum, biotech) and for more translational research.

To maintain our identity as a leading research university with a broad research portfolio, we need to be proactive in preparing for the challenges ahead. In April, I solicited ideas for a Research Resilience Initiative, and the Office of Research hosted a series of workshops in spring quarter. Over the summer, the Provost asked the deans and central units to assess risks and opportunities and to provide input into guiding principles for supporting resilience. The Provost then created a tri-campus Research Resilience & Transformation (RRT) faculty advisory group, and we are also working with relevant Faculty Senate committees. For the Office of Research, research resilience includes: i) ongoing assessment of risks and opportunities, ii) improving our messaging about the value of research, and iii) supporting change, including work towards decreasing the cost of research, facilitating diverse revenue streams, and supporting faculty and staff in navigating a changing landscape. We have ongoing work on all these fronts, but a current focus is on sponsored project administration, both increasing efficiency and rethinking the support structure as UW moves toward an incentive-based budgeting model.

A critical part of this work involves addressing the remaining issues in grants management associated with the Workday transition, which impact both faculty and staff. In partnership with UW-IT and the Office of Finance, Planning & Budgeting, we are committed to making meaningful improvements through the Awards Improvement and Development Effort (AIDE) that started in February. Participation and input from campus partners and central offices continues to guide AIDE’s work on making research administration at UW more efficient and predictable. Recent accomplishments include reduced OSP and GCA processing times, new reporting dashboards for better visibility into request status and award spend, and improved SAGE functionality. Next, AIDE is focusing on automating award modification steps, simplifying subaward processing, and expanding reporting dashboards for better portfolio visibility. This work is complex, but it is building a more sustainable foundation to support the daily work of research administration. There are also ongoing efforts on unified training and guidance that will further support improvements in research administration. To serve PIs and their department staff, the Office of Research maintains a Workday Finance & Research webpage that provides links to resources on a variety of topics, from training on PI grant reporting to dashboards for tracking in-progress items in the grant lifecycle.

I’d also like to highlight a few initiatives to support other aspects of RRT. As noted below, we recently issued a call for applications to participate in a Research Impact Advocates program (due Nov. 1), aimed at providing training and engagement opportunities for researchers who want to contribute to UW’s efforts to communicate impact of their work to the public. We also have a new series of workshops planned for the fall, including a workshop on international collaboration and one on working with foundations. See the OR Events page for more information on these opportunities, computing and programs to support new efforts in AI, and other events of interest. Lastly, to facilitate work with external partners and expand revenue streams, we have two new team members: Dr. Adam Wojno joining as Assistant Vice Provost for Shared Facilities, and Meredith Reynolds as Senior Manager Sponsored Research Intellectual Property. Adam will help strengthen shared facility infrastructure and community, while Meredith’s joint OSP-CoMotion role will facilitate negotiating intellectual property terms in sponsored research agreements.

The research funding landscape will continue to evolve, and our work will not be easy. Fortunately, we build on a foundation of excellence across a breadth of disciplines, a highly collaborative community, a supportive ecosystem for faculty-driven initiatives, and a long-running commitment to research impact for the public good. I am grateful to be part of this community. Thank you for your contributions and partnership.

 

Mari Ostendorf
Vice Provost for Research

News & Events

Research Resilience – Fall 2025 Events

In response to the evolving federal funding landscape for research, the Office of Research and our campus partners are facilitating a series of information sessions and workshops on research resilience, from securing research funding, to communications, to AI resources. Visit our events page for more information on upcoming events.

Call for Proposals: Research Impact Advocates 2025-2026

UW researchers are invited to apply for the inaugural Research Impact Advocates cohort. This program will provide training and engagement opportunities for up to 20 UW researchers to increase their capacity to engage the public about their research impact. Proposals are due by Nov. 1. See the program announcement for more information.

Call for Proposals: Data Science and AI Accelerator (Winter Session)

This Data Science and AI Accelerator program pairs eScience data scientists with researchers from any field of study to work on focused, collaborative projects. The program is open to faculty, postdocs, staff and grad students from any UW campus. Proposals are due by Oct. 28. Visit the AI Accelerator page for proposal details.

Tillicum, UW’s Next-Generation Computing Platform, Now Available to UW Researchers

The University of Washington’s next-generation GPU-accelerated computing platform, Tillicum, is now open for research use. Tillicum is designed to support AI/ML, simulation, and other workloads. Tillicum operates under a usage-based allocation model at a highly subsidized rate of $0.90 per GPU hour. PIs and faculty planning to use Tillicum in teaching can get started in two ways:

For support related to proposal development, budgeting GPU computing resources, or benchmarking large-scale workloads, please contact UW-IT Research Computing Services (requires Net ID).

UW Libraries Host “Open Access Week” Information Sessions, October 20-24

“Open Access Week”, hosted annually by UW Libraries Open Scholarship Commons, features workshops on resources and tools relevant to researchers including publishing research online, accessing and analyzing government data sources, and navigating NIH open sharing requirements. Registration is now open for all workshops.

Introducing Adam Wojno, Assistant Vice Provost for Shared Facilities

Adam Wojno, Ph.D. has been appointed as the new Assistant Vice Provost for Shared Facilities in the Office of Research. His work will improve operational efficiencies for research resource core facilities, streamline access to resources, and foster collaboration between core facilities and external, local research institutions and industry partners.

Introducing Meredith Reynolds, Senior Manager, Sponsored Research Intellectual Property

Meredith Reynold‘s position works across both the Office of Sponsored Programs and CoMotion. This role involves helping researchers advance their work through collaborative industry partnerships and negotiating intellectual property terms in sponsored research agreements.

Introducing Leah Miller, Director, Office of Research Misconduct Proceedings

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Leah Miller, Ph.D. as the new Director of the Office of Research Misconduct Proceedings (ORMP).  Leah brings her knowledge of science and research, and extensive regulatory experience from her twelve years in UW’s Human Subjects Division.

Administration

Federal Shutdown Information

Federal legislation has not passed to fund the federal government beyond September 30, 2025 and the government is effectively shut down. We are hopeful that our government will resolve this issue quickly. The Office of Research will continue to share information and guidance for the duration of the shutdown via our Federal Government Shutdown News and Updates page.

New Proposal Preparation Resources

Two new proposal preparation resources are available to accompany updates made to GIM 1 Review and Submission Requirements for Proposals:

NSF Research Security Training Requirement

Effective October 10, 2025, all senior/key personnel identified on an NSF proposal must complete Research Security Training (RST) within 12 months prior to proposal submission to NSF. Detailed information about this new requirement can be found on the announcement page.

New UW Research Shared Facilities & Resources Directory

AVP Adam Wojno and his colleagues in the OR are working with campus partners to update and refresh the directory of shared facilities and resources available to internal and external researchers. The new directory will launch in November 2025, followed by a promotional campaign in 2026.  If you have a facility, equipment, or staff expertise that should be included in the directory, please respond via the Shared Facilities intake form.

Apply for Limited Submission Opportunities

Researchers interested in applying for Limited Submissions Opportunities can learn more about navigating the internal application process in a recently recorded workshop hosted by Cecilia Giachelli, Associate Vice Provost for Research and Lene Hansen, Director of Foundation Relations. Visit the Limited Submissions Opportunities page for a link to the recording and more information.

Award Data and Reporting Tools

Review this up-to-date list of links to reporting tools for the research community on legacy and Workday Finance reports.

Learning Opportunities

CORE: Research Administration Training

The CORE research administration learning schedule is now published in our LMS and ready for you to find and register for courses. Be sure to encourage new staff and colleagues working in the grants space to take advantage of these free courses, many of which are on-demand and available 24/7.

HSD: Data Security Protections – Safeguarding Research Participants Information

Human Subjects Division offers an online tutorial recommended for researchers that work with human participants data. The tutorial reviews HSD’s data security requirements, including their purpose, the human participant data risk levels, and a summary of the requirements.

Grants Management For Investigators

The GMI curriculum has been updated to include material that covers Workday.  For experienced PIs, the online “Refresher” course includes optional modules that cover tools for monitoring balances and expenditures on your gifts and grants. Visit the GMI page for more information and registration.

New SAGE Resources

Visit the new SAGE Health & Status page, learn about new resources and fall classes, and recent and upcoming SAGE improvements.

BRI: Biomedical Research Integrity Program

If you are an NIH-funded researcher or trainee in need of “Responsible Conduct of Research” training, registration is open for the September 2026 session. You can complete the required eight hours of training in one session or distribute your training among multiple years.