The University of Wisconsin could lose about $35 million dollars in research funding over the next year, the UW System’s president said Thursday.

UW System President Kevin Reilly said at Thursday’s Board of Regents meeting UW’s research budget, one of the largest in the nation, could get a 3.5 percent cut with the sequestration cuts.

“While this may sound like a relatively small amount, that figure represents a lot of grants that will go unfunded and research projects that may not be undertaken,” Reilly said.

Congress passed its March 1 deadline to agree on a deal to avoid the sequester, which will lead to $85 billion in across-the-board cuts in the federal budget.

Reilly said he wrote a letter to the state’s congressional delegation last week, encouraging them to help Congress get to a deal and avoid the cuts.

Reilly also warned about the impacts the cuts will have system-wide, as many campuses could lose funding from the National Science Foundation. Other research agencies will give less grants as well, including those aimed toward growing small businesses, he added.

“This will result in fewer grants approved, less research undertaken and reduced capacity of growing our economy and improving medical care,” Reilly said.

As the cuts are not immediate, Reilly said there are still some “unanswered questions” about the impact of these cuts.

The one thing that is certain, however, is that the sequestration cuts will not affect Pell grants for low-income students, which Reilly said he and other UW System officials are “grateful” for. But other financial aid programs will be affected, he added.