TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Trump Administration’s budget cuts are hitting the University of Arizona and raising worries about the potential of more cuts to come, specifically in National Institute of Health and National Science Foundation funded studies and research.
The University of Arizona is a place for students to learn but it’s also much more than that. It’s a place for researchers to learn about the world and develop new breakthroughs that could benefit us all.
But now the Federal government is talking about cutting the funding for that research, cutting it drastically, and the effect could ripple out to effect a lot of people.
U of A is a leader in medical research, in optics, in space exploration, and many other sophisticated specialties.
U of A’s research does more than sustain the university. It helps make it the biggest employer in Pima County with more than 16,000 jobs and enough money to ripple across the economy to create plenty of off-campus jobs.
The University says it spent over one billion dollars for research last year alone.
Federal grants through the National Science Foundation come to more than $434 Million.
About $165 Million comes from the National Institutes of Health but the Federal Government plans to change NIH funding in a way that would cost U of A more than 40 Million dollars.
Faculty Senate Chair Leila Hudson worries cuts will undermine medical research that keeps us healthy, weaken the university’s finances, and make the US lose its leadership in the world competition for knowledge.
“The President has a mandate for certain forms of reform, but don't throw the baby out with the bath water. There will be repercussions in localities like Southern Arizona, all across the nation, if this is done in a cavalier and careless manner that disregards our economic interests.”
The NIH funding cuts mainly hit laboratory expenses and the people who work in those labs. Madeline Stropka says she worked in a lab. She says it helps train the next generation of scientists.
“It’s a good opportunity on campus here to explore research as a career opportunity and if this funding was to go away it doesn’t allow students the same opportunity to work in those research labs to get the experience.”
Leila Hudson says she hopes the courts will help protect funding, and says universities need to develop new sources but she doubts anything could make up all the difference if Federal funding stops.
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