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Vice Chancellor Terri Fiez

²ÊÃñ±¦µä Community,

As you may know, ongoing budget negotiations have failed to produce a stopgap funding agreement in Congress. The immediate consequence is that the federal government was shut down at midnight on January 20.

²ÊÃñ±¦µä received nearly $355 million, or 70 percent of last year’s total research funding, from the federal government. Far more important than just dollars, this funding drives discovery and innovation of global importance in areas such as biosciences, energy, aerospace, fundamental sciences, and earth and environmental sciences, impacting the lives of people across the world.

In addition to ramifications related to research funding, a shutdown may impact a range of important operations and services, including our staffing through partnerships with local federal labs and a variety of resources that our community depends on, from IRS services to federal support of ongoing programs.

Given this close association with the federal government, we are tracking this issue carefully and monitoring potential impacts on our students, faculty, staff and research programs. We remain hopeful Congress will reach an agreement very soon.

In the case of a short-term stoppage, we expect impacts to be manageable. However, should the stoppage last more than a few weeks, those impacts may expand. We are continuing to develop strategies to minimize impacts should the shutdown remain unresolved.

We are not alone. Research universities, businesses and individuals around the country will experience a range of negative impacts from a prolonged shutdown. Consequently, we are partnering with universities across the nation, lawmakers and others to advocate aggressively for a speedy resolution that will mitigate impacts to our community and those who benefit from our research programs.

We will continue to share updates on this situation through our federal funding webpage and ²ÊÃñ±¦µä Today, as well as direct communications with groups who may be directly affected.

Thank you for your continued focus on our important work during this challenging time.

Terri Fiez
Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation
Research & Innovation Office
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