Post by Matthew Buckley / Redsky

Matthew Buckley • Feed

None of us got into science to manage people, but to be honest, *most* people I work with in science do take that responsibility seriously. Every interaction I have had with other PIs as we worry about the future of science funding has been focused on protecting the people we are responsible for.

How Science is Funded A Note: Most of us didn’t get in to science to manage people. And it shows Being the person responsible for hiring and paying people is a responsibility that most of us take really seriously. Don’t work for people who don’t take this seriously if you can avoid it. No one who takes this seriously ever wants to be in the position where we can’t pay someone we are supposed to be responsible for supporting. Uncertainty in funding means we might be put in that position, and people are likely to take “conservative” approaches to avoid hiring people and later being unable to pay them.

apr 22, 2025, 1:15 am • 0 0

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Note Bene: I know how DOE and NSF grants for theoretical physics work, because that's my system. I know the ins and outs of other systems far less well.

What is a Grant Note: I know my grant structure the best. Extrapolating and have spoken to colleagues in other areas to try to understand the landscape National funding agencies: National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DOD), National Institutes of Heath (NIH), NASA. Also USAID, NOAA, Department of Agriculture… Rutgers has ~$500M/yr in federal grant money State grants and private grants are also significant: ~$400M/yr (Total Rutgers budget is $5.6B/yr)

apr 22, 2025, 1:15 am • 1 0 • view

Every person I've ever worked with treats the money we are entrusted with incredibly seriously. The grant process is tedious, lengthly, and relies on massive amounts of volunteered time as well as expert grant officers in the funding agencies.

What is a Grant? Public grants are obtained through a competitive process: A public “call” outlining the scope of the grants, application process “Principal Investigators” (PIs) submit applications describing the science that will be done, who it will be done by, and the necessary costs for the science (personnel, equipment, etc). A panel of experts is assembled by the grant agency to review all the applications. Non-trivial time investment (multiple day meetings and lots of reading beforehand). An expectation that you will agree to be on a panel if you are a grant-holder (“being a good citizen”) Everyone I’ve ever sat on a panel with takes this very seriously. Final decision made by Program Officers in funding agency, taking in to account financial realities.

apr 22, 2025, 1:15 am • 1 0 • view

Being a PI is a continual cycle of applying for grants, explaining what you did for the grant, and trying to get a new grant. Is this the most efficient system? Maybe not, but it is the system we work in.

Life Cycle of a Grant Most physics grants are on three-year cycles: Year -1: Apply for grant (10s to 100 pages, lots of documentation working with university staff) Start hiring process in the expectation you’ll get a grant Year 1: get grant. yay! Start doing science. End of Year 1+2: submit paperwork demonstrating you are doing the work and being a good steward of money. NIH grants must be administratively approved yearly Year 3: submit final grant report, submit your new grant Year 4: “No cost extensions”

apr 22, 2025, 1:15 am • 0 0 • view

Theory grants are on the smaller end, and lots of it is taken up by fringe (health care and benefits) and overhead (goes to university operations). Is this the only way we could build a system to do science? No, but if you take this away without a new system in place, that's a problem.

What Does a Grant Pay For Specializing to High Energy Theory grants (NSF and DOE) There are small, medium, and large grants. The program officer will fit your grant application into one of these boxes. Our grant combined grant (6+ PIs) pays for PI summer salary, 1-2 grad students and part of a postdoc. Travel + personal computing gets crammed in around the edges. Typical rule-of-thumb is 3 theory PIs gets 1 postdoc on a grant Grants get charged fringe: covering health insurance and benefits. For every $1 spent on salary, we pay $0.38 for federal fringe. For state grants, we pay $0.80 for every $1 of salary. Grants get charged overhead (“F&A”): covers the cost to the university for “incidentals” that aren’t directly charged to the grant. “Incidentals” include: The electricity. The building. The staff. Every $1 of direct spending on a grant has an overhead of ~$0.57 Universities rely on F&A as part of their operating budget. ~$200M for Rutgers

apr 22, 2025, 1:15 am • 0 0 • view

This slide is already out of date.

What Has Happened So Far? Late January: NIH cancels panels. This threatens all NIH grants for next year, as NIH is on 1-year review Early February: Trump Administration announces F&A rates for all grants will be immediately reduced to 15%. This will hit the Rutgers budget for ~$100M Last I heard this was enjoined by a court. February/March: Many NSF panels for next year have been cancelled. NSF and NIH grants with keywords (climate, mRNA, diversity, bi, trans,…) in title have been cancelled. NIH grant channels for underrepresented groups cancelled (removing those applicants from the pool) Late March/early April: Some NASA grants have been revoked March: Significant number of staff (program officers, etc) have been fired (Reduction In Force -> “RIFed”) in NASA, NIH, NSF,… Several universities have had broad swaths of grants pulled (UMaine, $100M in DOAg, JHU $800M in USAID, Columbia $400M in NIH, Brown $500M, Northwestern, Cornell…) Some of these actions have been ordered reversed/held by courts. Unclear if those actions will be upheld. Would only apply to existing grants. Broad sense that future grants will not be forthcoming.

apr 22, 2025, 1:15 am • 0 0 • view

Undergrad specific impacts: Research Experience for Undergrads. This is how we get people into research. There are fewer opportunities now.RE

REUs Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) grants. NSF program to support undergrads obtaining summer research experience. Pays for personnel (faculty & staff) to manage program, and the costs to pay students. In the grand scheme of things, these aren’t enormous costs (see previous) Standard 3-year cycle with the expectation that the university will reapply and likely be given the new grant (modulo changes in federal budget) My understanding: Rutgers and other universities who were applying for new grants had the grant approval pulled after panel-review stage and at an approval step that in previous years was pro forma As a result, many institutions (I don’t know how many, I’ve heard at least 20%) had to cancel their REU programs.

apr 22, 2025, 1:15 am • 0 0 • view