Dombrowski Discusses Federal Research Funding Cutbacks with Seven Days
Kirk Dombrowski, Ph.D., M.A., vice president for research and economic development at the University of Vermont, spoke with Seven Days about fallout from President Donald Trump’s cutbacks that take aim at federal research funding.
University of Vermont researchers are starting to receive notice of grant terminations, changes, and funding pauses. About a dozen grants have been canceled, and UVM is tallying the impacts. Administrators are also examining grant topics that might prompt federal action.
About a dozen grants have been terminated recently, according to Dombrowski.
“We think we’re just seeing the start of this." — Kirk Dombrowski, Ph.D., M.A.
Dombrowski, who was hired in 2020 to increase federal research funding at UVM, said he’s spending most of his time these days assessing where the school might be vulnerable to cuts. UVM had been expecting to receive more than $260 million in research funding this year.
“We want to know how big our risk exposure is,” he said. While UVM does have work under way in environmental research and diversity programs, he added, much of it is funded from internal sources, not federal grants.