U of A tally so far: 67 research grants terminated by Trump administration
Today
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The University of Arizona worked in partnership with the University of Berkeley, California, on a research grant to build pathways for Indigenous students in STEM fields starting. The grant was terminated May 2 by the National Science Foundation.
Torran Anderson, Indigenous Resilience Center, University of Arizona
The University of Arizona has had a total of 67 research grants stopped or terminated by federal agencies under the Trump administration, an administrator told faculty senators.
Of those, 26 research proposals received support from the university’s bridge funding program, which was created this year to cover gaps for unfinished projects that lose federal funds.
The bridge funding provided so far by UA totals over $1 million, UA Secretary of the Faculty Katie Zeiders wrote in an email Thursday to senators on behalf of the Office of Research and Partnerships or ORP.
“Approximately 81% of all submitted proposals have received funding,” said Zeiders, who is part of ORP’s advisory committee on shared governance leaders’ behalf. “Those not funded either did not meet eligibility criteria” or need to be resubmitted by faculty through their colleges rather than directly to the office, she wrote.
Zeiders said the 67 terminated research awards totaled roughly $60 million in lost unspent federal funds. The number is a drop from previous figures, she said, as 31 grants totaling about $5 million were reinstated or restored due to legal actions in the last few months.
Zeiders also addressed the indirect cost rates research grants receive to cover facilities and administrative costs, which has been threatened to be capped at 15% by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation in the last six months. She said that while the proposed caps have not been implemented due to legal challenges, “the long-term outlook remains uncertain.”
In response, she said, a group convened by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) “has been developing new models for a more transparent and efficient approach to indirect cost recovery on federal grants,” said Zeiders.
The two proposed frameworks are: One that allocates a fixed percentage of total costs to research operations and facilities based on the type of institution and research; and another that redefines traditional indirect costs and reallocates them into direct cost categories.
Neither model has been adopted by the federal government or the UA and the APLU group is currently testing them at different institutions to provide a recommendation to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in July, said Zeiders. It has not addressed potential cost savings, she said.
The UA will also create a working group focused on this topic and Zeiders invited volunteers to join. The group will consist of research-active faculty and will provide input and recommendations to administrators and shared governance bodies.
UA declines to reveal details
While Zeiders’ email to faculty senators came out this week, UA spokesperson Mitch Zak and Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, senior vice president for research and innovation, declined to provide the most recent list of terminated grants and their federal funding agencies.
However, the Star obtained a list in May compiled by a UA administrator that said of the 67 grants terminated or put under stop-work orders, the highest number were funded by the National Science Foundation (11), the National Endowment for the Humanities (10), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (7).
Zak and Díaz de la Rubia also would not answer the Arizona Daily Star’s questions on how many people and positions at the UA have been affected due to the terminations.
At the June 12 Arizona Board of Regents meeting, Díaz de la Rubia praised the UA’s bridge funding program and the national attention it has gotten. He also said the UA has been able to support every graduate student and faculty member who has asked for funds.
However, his presentation lacked details on the amount of bridge funds, the number of research projects it’s been able to save, and future plans on how to keep the program going. He and Zak also declined to provide that information when the Star asked follow-up questions.
Impacts of research cuts
One of the programs that received a stop work order was the Arizona Perinatal and Pediatric Psychiatry Access Lines, known as APAL, a program in the UA’s College of Medicine–Tucson’s psychiatry department.
Saira Kalia, director of APAL and a perinatal psychiatrist, told the Star in May it was stunning to get the email with the stop work order. The order was dated March 26, but the first paragraph of the email said, “Stop work immediately as of March 24.” She said she wondered how she was to retroactively stop work.
The program was funded by Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System or AHCCCS under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. APAL’s consultation services reached 75% of the state’s counties and were totally grant-funded and free to clients.
The perinatal program was started in June 2023 and was in its second year with $800,000 in funds. The pediatric portion was started in May 2024 and was in its pilot funding of $1.9 million that was to last over a year and a half. It’s really hard to come up with that kind of money with no notice to keep the programs going, Kalia said.
“We’re talking about 16,000 moms in Arizona that are affected with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders,” said Kalia.
Without the program, mothers now will have to pay $700 per appointment elsewhere, she said.
“It’s just too many moms that get untreated, and it’s too many moms that die because of this. These are moms that are going to die. We’re going to see an increase in death toll because of maternal health issues in Arizona if things like APAL and AHCCCS get cut,” Kalia said.
Kalia said an average inpatient psychiatric hospitalization costs $12,000 and that a lot of the calls they get for consultation are from the rural parts of Arizona. People call and talk about a mother they know who is psychotic, severely depressed or suicidal, she said. In such cases, the program provided expert guidance right away for no cost and while it doesn’t make money, it saves money, Kalia said.
During the May 8 interview with the Star, Kalia said the program had applied for the UA’s bridge funding a month before but had not heard back. Megan Stolz, a clinical navigator with the program, did not respond to the Star’s follow-up questions in June about an update on the bridge funds.
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University of Arizona Professors Karletta Chief and Cherie DeVore, working on a research grant aimed at integrating Indigenous knowledge into geoscience education and interpretation at Grand Canyon National Park. The grant was terminated April 25 by the National Science Foundation under the Trump administration.
Kristin Gunckel, a professor of science education in UA’s College of Education, said one of her two NSF grants received a termination notice April 25. It focused on pushing back on racial inequity in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Awarded in September 2024, the grant’s total funding over four years would have been approximately $2.5 million across the UA and three other institutions, Gunckel said. The UA portion was over $527,000 for four years.
“Our project would have focused on addressing some of the disproportionate negative impacts of stormwater flooding on marginalized communities in New Orleans. The goal was to create a community-informed, justice-centered science curriculum for grades 3-8 that responded to children’s experiences and concerns with stormwater flooding in New Orleans,” wrote Gunckel to the Star.
“It is important to note that 2025 is the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which had devastating and long-lasting impacts on the Black community in New Orleans,” she continued. “Research conducted by the project would have contributed to knowledge about how to engage in justice-centered science education and (re)build relationships across schools and communities.”
Gunckel’s project was peer-reviewed three times and found to meet NSF’s goals when it was awarded. However, NSF changed its priorities to exclude diversity and inclusion on April 18, 2025, enabling it to claim the project no longer met agency priorities, she said.
“A major impact of these terminations is the emotional gut punch of losing a project we worked for over three years to win,” said Gunckel. The project “went through three rounds of peer review over three years to meet the equity, diversity, and justice requirements set by NSF, and then to have NSF tell us that the project no longer met their priorities was crushing.”
She said her grant was not eligible for UA’s bridge funds, since there was no other funding opportunity to bridge to. Bridge funding is intended as temporary financing provided until regular long-term financing is secured.
The grant termination did not lead to any layoffs per se, since the grant funded Gunckel, a tenured UA faculty member, and one graduate research assistant who hadn’t been hired yet.
However, “the loss of this funding impacts the 16 teachers and approximately 640 students who would have participated in the project,” said Gunckel. “It also represents a setback in developing equitable science learning opportunities for all students.”
Karletta Chief, director of the UA Indigenous Resilience Center and a professor in environmental science, talked about three terminated grants in the resilience center worth more than $1.17 million. They were funded by NSF and the Environmental Protection Agency, and the center is now seeking donations and philanthropic support.
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Members of the University of Arizona’s Indigenous Resilience Center learn about the agricultural practices at Baboquivari High School in Sells. The grant they were using has been terminated by the federal government.
Torran Anderson, Indigenous Resilience Center, University of Arizona
One of the grants, in partnership with the University of Berkeley, California, worked to build pathways for Indigenous students in STEM fields. A second focused on providing tribal communities with free technical assistance to secure environmental justice funding. The third, in partnership with Arizona State University, aimed to integrate Indigenous knowledge into geoscience education and interpretation at Grand Canyon National Park.
Cutting the grant related to STEM led to 8 layoffs at the UA, including three staff members, three students and two postdoctoral scholars. Loss of the grant related to environmental justice funding led to one layoff.
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Members of the University of Arizona’s Indigenous Resilience Center learned about food-growing techniques at Tortuga Ranch of the Pascua Yaqui. The grant has been ended by the federal government.
Torran Anderson, Indigenous Resilience Center, University of Arizona
“Indigenous communities are on the frontlines of climate change, facing environmental, social, and economic challenges that threaten their ways of life,” said the center’s document calling for philanthropic supporters to step in.
All three grants were considered for UA bridge funds. Chief said the grant related to STEM education received $80,000 for 6 months to support students and finish out the remaining activities that were suddenly halted.