Two federal spending bills were signed into law by President Joe Biden March 9 and March 23, according to a University of Wisconsin newsletter. The set of bills includes funding directed to research initiatives at UW, according to the newsletter.
The university spent over $1.5 billion last year to fund research initiatives, according to Interim Vice Chancellor of Research Cynthia Czajkowski. UW has been successful in receiving funding from grants and contracts with government agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense, but the recent federal spending bills will provide support in additional research areas, Czajkowski said.
“This is another way of getting resources to move our research forward,” Czajkowski said. “We want to take the research and the knowledge that we’re building, but also innovate and help and provide for the public good.”
Approved federal spending bills will allocate funds to research initiatives driving innovation in the dairy industry, enhancing rural economies and advancing research on sustainability and biofuels, Czajkowski said.
The UW Office of Federal Relations worked with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Associate Deans for Research across UW colleges and schools to identify projects that would benefit from targeted federal investment, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Government Affairs and Strategic Partnerships Ben Miller said in an email statement to The Badger Herald.
Projects to receive funding include the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, PANTHER and Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives Program, according to the UW newsletter.
After identifying projects, the Office of Federal Relations worked with congressional members Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI-02) to explain the potential impacts of these projects on the research community and public, Miller said.
“We try to come up with a list of ideas that we think are important for the state of Wisconsin because we’re asking our representatives, where are we making an impact on the state,” Czajkowski said.
PANTHER — a biomedical research program addressing traumatic brain injuries — plans to use funding from the bills to support a growing team and aid additional research efforts into this complex issue, PANTHER Director and Cellular TBI Lead Christian Franck said.
Without this federal funding, research initiatives at PANTHER would not be possible, Franck said.
“Through these initiatives [federal funding], you open up the possibility to bigger teams, bigger ideas, longer-term investments and that is significant because, for a problem as complex as concussions or traumatic brain injury, you need to give people some time to come together and think this through,” Franck said.
Despite the approval of the spending bills, there is never a guarantee future funding will be secured, according to Franck. Therefore, it is important that UW community members educate themselves on various research ventures and advocate for future investments, Franck said.
Further, UW encourages collaboration with the general public because the research programs funded by federal spending dollars ultimately benefit Wisconsin communities, Czajkowski said.
“We need to work with the general public and promote what we’re doing so that they understand that this is providing economic support for the state and also workforce development,” Czajkowski said.
