Following threats of potential funding cuts from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, multiple summer research opportunities at UNC in the life sciences and social sciences have been put on hiatus or canceled.
Each summer, the University typically hosts internship programs that allow students, both from other institutions and UNC, to engage in mentored research. Many of these programs are intended for students with limited research experience or communities who are underrepresented in research, including students from minority groups, rural or low-income backgrounds and first-generation college students.
“These programs provide mentorship, skill building [and] networking that students from smaller institutions or non-research intensive schools may not otherwise have access to,” second-year pharmacology doctoral candidate Leah Frazier said.
The cancellations coincide with an announcement from the NIH proposing to lower the funding cap on “indirect” research costs, such as research facilities and administration, to 15 percent, rather than the previous cap of 55 percent, The Daily Tar Heel recently reported. The proposal follows a series of executive orders from President Donald Trump targeting initiatives that promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal government and in federally funded grants.
In an email statement to The Daily Tar Heel, UNC Media Relations wrote that individual programs have the authority to make administrative decisions for their respective programs. They also wrote that the University does not collect demographic data on all undergraduate students involved in research.
"There are currently no university-wide plans for cancellations of summer research opportunities. The Office of the Vice Chancellor of Research has advised the research community to continue their work without making changes unless they receive different instructions from OVCR or a federal agency," the email said.
The NIH and NSF, which are government agencies, provide the majority of funding for various research experiences at UNC and at other universities nationwide.
Karen Guzzo, director of the Carolina Population Center, said in an email statement to The DTH that much of the research performed at CPC is funded by the NIH and NSF. She also said that there has been scrutiny on specific research areas at the CPC, such as efforts to understand disparities in health and well-being over time, through observing demographics and geographic regions and how social context and policy relate to disparities.
“If these topics truly become ‘unallowed’ in federally funded research, that will be a huge step back for our whole country,” Guzzo said.
