{"id":62100,"date":"2026-02-11T11:49:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/?page_id=62100"},"modified":"2026-03-04T15:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T23:38:15","slug":"horizons-newsletter-february-2026","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/or\/horizons-newsletter\/horizons-newsletter-february-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Horizons Newsletter – February 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published February 10, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

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A Message from the Vice Provost<\/h2>\n

\"\"The calendar year has started with some positive news for research. Congress passed FY26 funding bills avoiding deep cuts to education and to agencies such as NIH, NSF, DOE and NOAA that are important supporters of academic research. In addition, the bills include language that would protect indirect cost rates from arbitrary changes by federal agencies. The Washington State delegation supported UW in many ways, including\u00a0$10M in congressionally directed spending to support computing infrastructure for AI research and education<\/a>\u00a0on all three campuses, secured by Senator Murray. Our work with Foundations continues to be strong, with the latest good news that the\u00a0Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation is funding 16 postdoctoral fellows<\/a>\u00a0in a variety of scientific fields spanning 14 departments, one of 30 such awards made nationwide. And all three UW campuses were recognized last month with the\u00a0Carnegie Foundation Community Engagement reclassification<\/a>, reflecting the university\u2019s commitment to working with communities to achieve meaningful impact of research for society.<\/p>\n

We celebrate the good news in full recognition of the challenges remaining. Shifts in federal policies and priorities are having negative impacts on important research areas at UW, underscoring the importance of UW\u2019s efforts toward research resilience. While we are protected from arbitrary indirect cost rate reductions for now, it is clear that there is a demand for change in the federal indirect cost model that we should be planning for. Internally, while UW made good progress in addressing Workday challenges in award processing over the past year with\u00a0AIDE<\/a>, ongoing effort is needed. The Office of Research is actively exploring options for further reducing turnaround times.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to highlight a few new and ongoing Office of Research resilience initiatives. In December, we launched a new\u00a0Shared Research Facilities & Resources website<\/a>, with the goal of making shared infrastructure more visible to researchers within UW as well as external partners.\u00a0Adam Wojno, Assistant Vice Provost for Shared Research Facilities<\/a>, is available to work with facility directors to promote their facilities on campus and connect with external partners. We also launched our pilot\u00a0Research Impact Advocates program<\/a>, aimed at supporting faculty who are interested in engaging with the public in how research impacts so many aspects of people\u2019s lives and well-being. You\u2019ll learn more about these efforts in this newsletter. In addition, we\u2019ve been collaborating with Advancement and CoMotion on making it easier for researchers to work with industry \u2013 look for an announcement of an upcoming workshop soon.<\/p>\n

A time of change offers opportunities for improvements. I welcome your ideas as we work to keep the UW research enterprise strong and communicate the many forms of our research impact.<\/p>\n

Mari Ostendorf<\/strong><\/a>
\nVice Provost for Research<\/p>\n

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NEWS & EVENTS<\/h2>\n

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The Research Impact Advocates Program<\/h3>\n

The Office of Research is proud to introduce the new\u00a0Research Impact Advocates<\/a>, a program which provides training and support for 20 faculty researchers and scholars who want to engage more effectively with the public about their work and the evidence behind it. The participants in the inaugural 2025 cohort represent 13 colleges and schools, across all three UW campuses and from all stages of research careers. They will receive a three-part training from the\u00a0Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science<\/a>, a two-day workshop with The\u00a0Op\u2011Ed Project<\/a>, and media training with UW News.<\/p>\n

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Shared Research Facilities Directory Launched<\/h3>\n

The new\u00a0UW Shared Research Facilities Directory<\/a>\u00a0is an\u00a0online resource that gives both UW and external researchers the ability to identify and access the shared research facilities, equipment, and services essential to their work. The directory is just one part of the Office of Research\u2019s Shared Research Facilities Initiative, a collaborative effort to promote and connect the expertise and infrastructure of the UW shared research facilities community with internal partners and external clients.<\/p>\n

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Joe Giffels Retires from UW Office of Research<\/h3>\n

After more than four decades of service in the field of research administration and compliance, Joe Giffels, Senior Associate Vice Provost for Research Administration and Integrity,\u00a0retired from the UW Office of Research\u00a0<\/a>on February 2. Over his 13-year tenure at the University of Washington, Joe has been instrumental in strengthening the processes, policies, and systems which support the research enterprise and advance responsible, service-oriented research administration across the UW Campuses. The Office of Research extends its sincere appreciation to Joe for his distinguished service and dedication, and wishes him the very best in his retirement.<\/p>\n

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Welcome Assistant Vice Provosts Mandy Morneault and Carol Rhodes<\/h3>\n

Joe Giffels’ departure brings changes to the leadership structure in the Office of Research with the appointment of\u00a0Mandy Morneault<\/a>\u00a0to Assistant Vice Provost for Research Integrity and\u00a0Carol Rhodes<\/a>\u00a0to Assistant Vice Provost for Research Administration and Compliance. The promotion of these two long-serving leaders\u00a0within the Office of Research to the executive leadership team ensures the continuity of experienced oversight for these critical research functions.<\/p>\n

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ADMINISTRATION<\/h2>\n

Restricted Research<\/h3>\n

Projects that will be handling Restricted Access Data, which can include federal contract information (FCI), or controlled unclassified information (CUI), will need an IT environment with certain security standards. Please see\u00a0UW-IT Computing for Restricted Access Data<\/a>\u00a0for more information on new IT options. For sponsored programs, please obtain the\u00a0UW-IT Director Feasibility Memo<\/a>\u00a0before submitting your proposal.<\/p>\n

Proposal and Agreement Guidance Updates<\/h3>\n

New & updated resources designed to help researchers identify project considerations and compliance requirements for proposals and agreements.<\/p>\n