Representatives of UND and NDSU say current methods and requirements for the awarding of federal research dollars to universities has caused a lot of uncertainty.
Dr. Heidi Grunwold of NDSU and Dr. Scott Snyder of UND presented their concerns to the state Board of Higher Education. They told the Board there are more rules and regulations on the awards, and in many cases, less money awarded.
Snyder described how it has affected the Energy and Environmental Research Center.
"The Department of Energy's decrease in funding, as well as the decrease in the number of awards, resulted in a substantial number of folks being laid off, or put on furlough," Snyder told the Board. "This is having real world affects."
Grunwold told the Board the funds from the National Science Foundation are down $1 billion, and the National Institutes for Health grants are down by 7400 awards.
"And although the Administration likes to say they're moving money into the middle of the country, they're in fact, not," Grunwold said. "If you look at the largest awards over the last six months, they're all going to the seaboard, to Texas and Chicago."
Grunwold and Snyder said part of the problem is that Congress has not been able to pass a budget, and instead has been relying on “continuing resolutions.”
