UT could lose up to $18 million for research under sequestration
University of Texas graduate student Joe Hanson has shaped his lifestyle to accommodate the meager salary he earns as a genetic engineering biology researcher. He supplements his income with a job as a college teaching assistant. He and his wife don’t take vacations; they drive a 1999 Ford truck with manual windows. They have even postponed having children.
But federal budget cuts to college research dollars have Hanson, who makes $25,000 a year, rethinking his career choice. According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the government slashed an estimated $57.5 billion for research over the next four years under the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration, cuts that will hit many as the school year — and annual research contracts — comes to a close.
Federal research grants are used to pay the salaries of graduate students, whose labors are guided by university faculty. A reduction in funding likely means that many students will have their pay cut or possibly lose their jobs. Research projects could be discontinued if local or private dollars aren’t found to close the gap. Professors also are worried that the brightest graduate students and research professors will be lured overseas to countries where research is better funded.
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The cuts are a blow to UT, which is working to cement its status as a Tier 1 research campus. The $18 million in federal cuts — about 3 percent of UT’s total research budget — come as the state has frozen $9 million in cancer research grants at UT, a double-whammy for researchers, who need the money to hire assistants and buy equipment.
More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local-education/ut-could-lose-up-to-18-million-for-research-under-/nXZ4G/ .
