Research funding impacts as of February 11, 2025

USAID

• All USAID and one USDA Foreign Agricultural Service funded grants at K-State received stop-work orders to immediately cease expenditures and activities.
• K-State complied with those orders and has not performed any work and immediately sent stop-work orders to all subcontracted collaborating partners in all countries with collaborating research partners.
• K-State project personnel have been moved to other non-federal sources of funding within the colleges.

NIH

• NIH announced a reduction of Indirect Costs to 15% cap on all current and future proposals.
• K-State awaits definitive guidance as the order is currently on hold as a result of several lawsuits.
• K-State is currently submitting NIH proposals with previously federally negotiated rates in the budgets. Also, K-State’s current negotiated rate of 52% MTDC continues to be utilized when calculating SRO expenses on current grant awards. This practice could change if the 15% cap is allowed to stand upon expiration of current legal stays. This will require adjustments for expenditures back to January 10, the date NIH issued the notice.

NSF

• Agency focus is on compliance with applicable Executive Orders. Proposal submission portals are open, but the number of available grant opportunities is more limited than normal.

Department of Education

• Agency focus is on compliance with applicable Executive Orders.

Grant spending and obligated funds

• K-State spends awarded dollars, then sends reimbursement requests for all federally funded grants, contracts and agreements.
• Obligated funds indicate what K-State is eligible to spend, based on authorizations received to date versus what has been spent or received to date.
• K-State has continued to submit payment requests to the federal government for reimbursement of expenditures incurred through the effective date of the stop-work orders and/or termination.
• At this time, K-State has not received payment in full for expenditures associated with some of these paused or terminated programs but will continue to monitor the submitted payment requests.

Pending grant awards and future opportunities

• K-State’s receipt of new grant awards has been reduced post-issuance of the EOs and the subsequent OMB notices.
• The issuance of M-25-14 and the related Temporary Restraining Order seems to have had minimal effect on rescinding the pauses previously initiated.
• Many opportunity announcements have been removed or due dates scrubbed.

For the latest updates on what we know about impacts related to the federal administration transition, please continue to check the 2025 Federal Transition website.

The Office of the President, Office of the Vice President for Research and Division of Facilities are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 Roots of Research Award. 

The award recognizes exceptional research and scholarly work that has inspired students, colleagues and the broader academic community. In honor of their achievements, a tree will be planted on campus in each recipient’s name, symbolizing the deep roots they have cultivated through their work and the legacy they leave for future generations. 

Read the full announcement.

Fulbright is officially open for the FY 2026/2027 funding round of the US Scholars Program. Overseas opportunities have begun appearing in the Catalog of Awards found on the Fulbright website. Fulbright is presenting a special Launch Webinar on February 18, at 1 p.m. If you are interested in this program, this is definitely a session you will want to attend. Click here to register. If you have any questions about this program, please contact your Fulbright Liaison- Mary Lou Marino at mlmarino@ksu.edu.

Fulbright has added a complete listing of its upcoming webinars which look at research and/or teaching opportunities across the globe. These scheduled webinars address these opportunities on a region by region basis with the first one, after the launch webinar, looking at opportunities in the East Asia and Pacific Region. A full listing of these webinars may be found here.

The Kansas State University, Office of Research Development announces a new funding opportunity for faculty researchers working in the fields of design, arts, social sciences, and humanities. The Design, Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (DASH) award is an annual opportunity for one-time, one-year $10,000 awards to support research, scholarly work, or creative activities.

Applications follow the same eligibility guidelines as and must include all items requested in the call for University Small Research Grants, but unlike that lower-funded internal program, your DASH budget can include up to one summer month of faculty salary. DASH proposals are due by 5 p.m. on March 3, 2025. Proposals must be submitted as a single PDF file to ord@ksu.edu.

Proposals will be peer-reviewed and awardees notified by early May. Award periods will begin on July 1, 2025.

The COBRE Center for Molecular Analysis of Disease Pathways (CMADP) at the University of Kansas provides participating investigators with research support, mentoring and access to Core Lab Services in a collegial, collaborative atmosphere. We are seeking to fund a new group of Pilot Projects at up to $100,000 direct costs per year for one year (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026), renewable for a second-year contingent on scientific progress and available funds. Applications must propose research that fits well with the scientific theme of our Center and that will make good use of one or more of the CMADP Core Labs.

This competition is open to faculty investigators of any rank whose research embraces the molecular analysis of disease pathways in the broadest sense. Priority will be given to new and early-stage investigators with tenure-, research-, or clinical-track faculty appointments. Letters of Intent are due February 17, 2025, and invited full proposals are due March 31, 2025. 

The Research Safety Bootcamp, hosted by the Department of Environmental Health and Safety in partnership with Hale Library, is returning to campus Feb. 10-14. This event provides education, training and networking opportunities for K-State faculty, staff, and students and attendees from federal government, state government and private industry. This event is designed for participants at all knowledge and skill levels.

All attendees will receive a certificate of training issued officially by K-State. An OSHA-10 certification and 15 continuing education units are available for resume building and credential maintenance.

Full event schedule and registration links are available on the event website.

Questions, comments, and ideas can be sent to Rachael Weiderman, Research and Laboratory Safety Manager at warhurst@ksu.edu.

Starting in Spring 2025, the Office of the Vice President for Research is excited to host a monthly networking poster session for K-State researchers. Faculty can enjoy light refreshments and wine while discussing ongoing research and projects.

Please note that the February session has been postponed. The first session will take place from 4-6 p.m. on Thursday, March 13, 2025, on the 5th floor of Hale Library.

The first session will focus on Community Health and Well-Being, one of the core areas of the Opportunity Agenda in K-State’s Next Gen. Plan. This focus area encompasses understanding physical, social and cultural features of a community; researching social dynamics and cohesion within a community; identifying and addressing factors that drive health disparities (including social determinants of health and health care policies); and identifying and enhancing the structures, policies and practices that impact accessibility to education.

Please register if you would like to attend the March event or present your research poster during one of the Spring 2025 sessions.

The Science Collective webinar series was established by MRIGlobal in 2023 to serve the scientific community by facilitating the sharing of great science. Today, it also provides an opportunity for entrepreneurs, researchers, academics, and others across the Midwest region and beyond to share their work and seek collaborative partnership opportunities. 

You are invited to join their webinars, which will feature scientists from the University of Kansas, the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), Kansas State University, and others from across multiple domains.

By clicking this calendar invitation, you can add the January 31 webinar to your calendar and then join via Teams for each session. Please note that the registration link for the subsequent meetings will only be provided to those who have registered for the first webinar. However, attendees are open to share the meeting invitation to interested parties as they wish.

Please contact Zach DeMars (zdemars@mriglobal.org) with any questions.

• February 14: Lihua Wang, PhD, K-State Vet
• February 28: Steve Witte, PhD, NBAF; Director- Biologics Development Module
• March 14: Prajna Dhar, PhD, KU
• March 28: Daniel Kennedy, EnterpriseKC
• April 11: Brandon Garcia, PhD, K-State
• May 9: Sue Lente, PhD, KU
• May 16: Brian Sanderson, PhD, KU Medical Center; Microbiology, Molecular Genetics, and Immunology

At this time, NIJ has cancelled all previously posted Notices of Funding Opportunity and associated webinars. Please check back to NIJ.OJP.gov and Grants.gov to keep up to date on future NOFO and webinar postings.

The National Science Foundation has postponed all previously scheduled webinars and office hours. Please see the NSF Events page for updates on when sessions may resume.

NASA Research and Education Support Services (NRESS) is seeking persons willing to serve as peer reviewers for the Engagement Opportunities in NASA STEM 2024 (EONS-2024) Notice of Funding Opportunity: Appendix 16: MUREP Aeronautics Community & Environmental Impact Research (ACEIR).

Information about the opportunity, proposal requirements and evaluation criteria can be found on the MUREP ACEIR page in the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES).

The peer review process is completed in two stages:

1.    THE ONLINE REVIEW is scheduled for March 7–17, 2025

Online reviewers will be expected to carefully read each proposal assigned and complete an online evaluation form. Each proposal should be reviewed on its own merit and should not be compared to others you have been assigned. Every effort will be made to assign no more than 5 proposals per online reviewer. Eligible non-civil servant online reviewers will receive $75 for each proposal review completed and submitted in NSPIRES prior to the close of the review period.

2.    THE VIRTUAL PANEL REVIEW is scheduled for March 25–27, 2025

The panel will be comprised of a group of peers, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each proposal. The duration of the panel might change depending on the number of proposals being reviewed, but for scheduling purposes, plan on a full-day commitment for all three days. One evaluation form will be completed by the group for each proposal, resulting in documents that will aid the Program Manager with selecting which proposal(s) should be recommended for funding. Eligible non-civil servant panelists will receive a $200/per day honorarium. 

If you are interested in serving as an online reviewer and/or virtual panelist, complete and submit the form found HERE, by February 14, 2025. 

Please note, your willingness to participate in this review does not guarantee your selection. Reviewers will be selected based on the subject matter of each proposal received. You will be contacted only if you are selected to participate.

What are your plans for the summer? What about spending the summer with NIH shaping biomedical research and building your policy skills? If science policy is your calling, the OSP Summer Internship Program might be right for you. 

Watch this informational video to hear more about the program from the OSP Director by checking out and learn how to apply. All application materials must be received no later than February 28, 2025.

Questions may be sent to SciencePolicy@od.nih.gov. If you are not yet a subscriber to this listserv, please sign up here. 

The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) is an independent nonprofit established by Congress to support innovative science addressing today’s food and agriculture challenges and complement the research mission of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. FFAR was created in the 2014 Farm Bill as a mechanism to spur innovation in food and agriculture research by forming unique public-private partnerships.

FFAR invites experts across the agricultural sciences to review grant proposals within topic areas according to their expertise. We are currently recruiting peer reviewers for the 2025 New Innovator Award, which provides early career scientists the investment needed to propel them into successful research careers.

The success of the peer review process depends on the willingness of qualified reviewers like you to share your time and expertise. You will be asked to review up to five (5) proposals in April - May 2025. In appreciation for completing the reviews, an honorarium will be provided to eligible, non-government employees.

To participate and receive more information, please complete the following 2-minute survey by February 28, 2025 to confirm that we can count on you to make this review process successful. We hope you consider this opportunity to work with FFAR as we strive to support innovative agricultural research.

Click here to complete the survey.

For more information regarding the New Innovator Award program, please contact Dr. LaKisha Odom at lodom@foundationfar.org. For any questions related to the peer review process, please contact Samar Ahmed at sahmed@foundationfar.org.

Single dose of broadly neutralizing antibody protects macaques from H5N1 influenza

National Institutes of Health scientists and their colleagues report that a single dose of a broadly neutralizing antibody administered prior to virus exposure protects macaques from severe H5N1 avian influenza. NIH

Earth’s inner core might harbor volcanoes and landslides

Seismic waves radiating through the planet’s interior point to dramatic activity. Science

Your brain is full of microplastics: are they harming you?

Plastics have infiltrated every recess of the planet, including your lungs, kidneys and other sensitive organs. Scientists are scrambling to understand their effects on health. nature



Humpback whale songs are structured like human language

Languagelike patterns in whale songs could make them easier for whales to learn. Science

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