Sequester causes cut to graduate school admissions

UNC chemistry professor Joseph DeSimone already sees the early effects on his research of cuts to federal grants.

For six months, his lab research group worked on a $7.5 million grant proposal for chemical and biological defense research.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency — which received the proposal a few weeks before federally mandated cuts went into effect March 1 — has been uncharacteristically slow to respond, DeSimone said.

“All that work is sitting there because now the DTRA doesn’t know what its budget is,” he said.

The uncertainty surrounding the fate of DeSimone’s grant could be felt around the country as agencies decide how to cope with across-the-board cuts in federal discretionary spending, mandated by a process known as sequestration.

Terri Lomax, vice chancellor for research, innovation and economic development at N.C. State University, said agencies will likely be forced to cover budget reductions by cutting grants — making it more difficult for university labs to receive them.

At UNC, which was the ninth largest university recipient of federal research dollars in 2010, the effects could be widespread.

Steven Matson, dean of UNC’s graduate school, said the social, biomedical and physical science departments will probably be the most affected by the federal cuts.

Some professors have already decided to accept fewer graduate students and postdoctoral candidates into their programs.

DeSimone said he is planning to reduce his 33 person research group by about five people.

He is not expecting current students to be affected, but he is taking a cautious approach to accepting future researchers.

Matson, who is also a biology professor and researcher, said this is a path many professors could be forced to follow.

“In anticipation of the sequester all we could do is ask programs to take the sequester into consideration and be conservative in their estimates of how many students they will be able to support,” Matson said, adding that he is planning to not add new members to his own lab.

Leaders in the scientific community have raised concerns about the economic consequences of a reduction in scientific research.

“This economy is fundamentally built on innovation, and the fuel to that innovation is federal research dollars,” said DeSimone, who is also the director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.

ScienceWorksforU.S., a project formed by national university organizations to raise awareness about the importance of research, projected at least a $203 billion reduction in the nation’s gross domestic product during the next nine years.

And if the sequester cuts are made permanent, there could be a significant reduction in scientists prepared to conduct research, Matson said.

“If we’re training fewer faculty, researchers and scientists, then we will be impacting our future and that is a concern.”

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.