Bloomington Herald-Times
February 28, 2013
IU expects to see fewer grants for research if sequestration hits
By Mike Leonard
February 28, 2013, last update: 2/28 @ 12:54 am
Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie has been vocal at a national level in his criticism of the Budget Control Act of 2011, citing its potential impact on university research that fuels economic activity.
In a guest column for the Chronicle of Higher Education in December, he wrote that a 9 percent cut to federal agencies could result in a $12.5 billion reduction in federally financed research, which could cost the U.S. economy an estimated 200,000 jobs.
"Universities account for more than half of the basic research conducted in the United States, work that often serves as the backbone of commercial research-and-development efforts by private-sector enterprises," he wrote.
University spokesman Mark Land said this week that IU is trying not to speculate on specific numbers or cuts to the university under the impending sequestration. He said, however, that the National Institutes of Health has indicated that agency will let individual institutes and centers under its umbrella decide how to make cuts, if and when they are implemented.
"The National Science Foundation has said it plans to maintain existing awards, but reduce the number of new grants awarded in fiscal year 2013 by about 1,000 to meet its reduced budget," Land said.
NIH sponsored program awards to IU totaled $154 million in fiscal 2012. NSF sponsored program awards to IU amounted to $43 million in the same year.
