The 70-year-old model that has made the U.S. the leading research innovator in the world is at risk. The DOGE group led by Elon Musk has funding for the National Institutes of Health in its sights, and it’s easy to imagine more federal funding will soon follow.
Of the $75.2 billion universities spend on research each year (2017 figures), $40.2 billion comes from the federal government. Simply, the innovations that lead to live-saving cancer treatments and more effective vaccinations, to ever-faster, smarter technology in our cars, our workplace, and in our pockets, are not possible without federal dollars.
On one of my first trips to China over 20 years ago, the president of a Chinese university explained to me how China was reforming their national research program to emulate that of the United States, the undisputed global leader in science and technology. She pointed out that for many years China had followed the Russian model, where research institutes were independent and separate from their universities; while in the U.S. we had created research universities where the education and the research occurred in tandem.
The U.S. model not only created better and more innovative scientific results, but also enhanced the learning environment for our students, and energized the local economies around the universities. A conversion of an entire nation’s approach to science was a huge undertaking, but one that China believed was well worth the effort, given the striking success of the United States in research and as a nation.
Recently, the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, informed all universities that they are immediately slashing their facilities and administrative (F&A) infrastructure support — also called “indirect funding” by some. A judge temporarily stayed the cuts, but a final decision is still pending.
At UC Riverside alone, it could mean a loss of $12 million of the $40 million UCR receives from Health & Human Services, which administers NIH funds. This reduction will have a drastic effect on science in America because F&A cannot be cut without cutting research itself. F&A covers essentials like research facilities, radiation and chemical safety, hazardous waste disposal, secure data storage and processing, utilities, security and technical staff, and compliance with federal and state laws, including export controls.
The advances generated by university research in cancer treatment alone in the past few decades are staggering. Imagine a future where those breakthroughs are missing or delayed by years, or decades, due to a lack of sufficient infrastructure. The effect on millions of individuals and their families would be tragic.
At UC Riverside, this decimation of research funds would bring to a halt NIH-funded research on a “single shot” vaccine that targets any strain of a flu or COVID virus. It would end promising UCR research to reverse the effects of multiple sclerosis, and a new therapy that targets the protein that contributes to pancreatic cancer.
The abandonment of research infrastructure will also extend to other areas beyond health, affecting the development of technologies that also support and advance our national security.
Our scientific success as a nation is due to many factors, but arguably the most important is the compact that has long existed among the federal government, state governments, and research universities.
Since World War II, the federal government has invested in the F&A infrastructure at universities, saving the federal government the expense of having to build that infrastructure from scratch. In return, the states and their research universities have worked to ensure broad student access to those universities through in-state tuition and state-funded financial aid. Because of this partnership, our nation’s youth participate in creating the latest advances in science and medicine, becoming better prepared to lead the nation in the years ahead.
At a time when so many are calling for America to assume a role as a definitive global leader, we should not abandon 70 years of investment in science and research and cede our No. 1 position in science to China or any other country.
Kim Wilcox is chancellor of the University of California, Riverside.
