Researchers at public universities in Arkansas last week said that uncertainty and delays likely will continue well after any deal ending the partial federal government shutdown.
Vincent Chevrier conducts NASA-funded research at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He said deadlines have been pushed back indefinitely for researchers looking to submit grant proposals.
"That also means with such a significant delay, some programs might not be solicited this year or next year. So at the very moment my work is not directly impacted, but in the long run it will be (less opportunities = less funding)," Chevrier, an assistant research professor at the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences, a part of UA, said in an email.
The partial government shutdown reached 35 days Friday, the same day President Donald Trump announced a temporary reopening of the government while negotiations continue for a long-term agreement.
Most universities contacted by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said they had avoided any furloughs during the shutdown, though not all federally funded research continued without interruption.
Anna Doty, a postdoctoral research associate at Arkansas State University, said she lost 82.5 percent of her salary and missed out on crucial research opportunities after a partial furlough.
"My initial thought was concern about the time sensitivity of the projects," said Doty, a wildlife biologist working on a U.S. Forest Service-funded project to study white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease afflicting bats. The animals hibernate in caves during the winter, and Doty said the shutdown caused her to miss important opportunities for field work.
ASU's top human resources official, Lori Winn, said the university issued a worker furlough and five partial furloughs -- with compensation reduced to match the percentage of salary that is federally funded -- to follow state guidance.
ASU and other public colleges and universities received memos from the state Department of Finance and Administration ordering a temporary suspension of government services relying on federal funding, with exceptions for public health, safety or welfare, and if federal documentation "guarantee[d] funding during the shutdown."
"Otherwise, if a program or employee is wholly or partially dependent on federal funding, they will be discontinued effective Saturday, December 22nd," stated a memo from Larry Walther, director of the state agency.
UA-Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences -- the top two institutions in the state in terms of total research expenditures, based on National Science Foundation data -- avoided furloughs, however, spokesmen said. There were also no furloughs at the UA System's Agriculture Division, a spokesman said.
For UAMS, "our contract with [Veterans Affairs] and grants with the National Institutes of Health were not affected by the shutdown," Leslie Taylor, UAMS vice chancellor for communications and marketing, said in an email.
At the Fayetteville campus, an internal memo dated Jan. 8 advised deans and others to squeeze departmental budgets to ensure that none of about 100 affected faculty, staff members and graduate students went unpaid, according to the memo and documents from the state Department of Higher Education. The memo stated that the reallocated money was to come from sources "other than state-appointed general revenue funds."
Ryan Rogers, a physical chemistry doctoral student at UA since 2015, receives a $34,000 yearly stipend from a National Science Foundation fellowship, with the federal award also including funds that go to pay for tuition. Only about 2,000 award offers were given out nationally last year with more than 12,000 applications, according to the website for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
Rogers said he's glad UA has said it's "going to take this burden," but he ended up shouldering some unexpected costs for the spring semester. During the shutdown, Rogers said he paid his own tuition this month, which he expects will be reimbursed.
"It's frustrating more than anything. I can survive, but it makes it sort of budgeting gymnastics," Rogers said. He said he had not yet received National Science Foundation stipend dollars, but that the payments, as well as the tuition funding, also have been late in the past. The stipend payments are distributed to him by the university, he said.
Rogers, 27, said his research involves using physics to study molecules, work done on computer rather than a laboratory stocked with vials of chemicals. His work doesn't require much in the way of purchasing materials, so he said going without funds would not delay his research.
Doty, 32, said a delay in the wildlife study could affect her career, however.
She has visited caves in the Mountain Home area and elsewhere in the state each winter since December 2016, her start date at ASU in Jonesboro. In the field, she gathers air samples to analyze for traces of compounds indicating the presence of white-nose syndrome.
"We're not allowed to go into the office and take care of cultures or do any type of data analysis that requires us to be in the building," Doty said before the Trump announcement.
Bill Smith, an ASU spokesman, said Friday that it was too early to say exactly what will be the next step for those employees affected by the furlough.
Doty said that she has received an offer for a professorship outside Arkansas. But as a young academic, she's wary of how a potentially unfinished project could damage her career.
"If you don't have something to show for the work that you're doing, then you are viewed as not being productive, and you aren't able to complete a project. And typically people don't ask questions about what happened during your career. They don't give you the opportunity to explain why you have gaps in your CV," Doty said, referring to curriculum vitae, which is similar to a resume.
Doty said she's been able to borrow money and has an understanding landlord, but she said she's unsure if she'll get back-pay. There also remains the "immense pressure to publish my research," she said, a goal threatened by the shutdown.
The project aim had been to submit results for publication by April; now, "the timeline is just so much shorter," Doty said, adding she lacked confidence that it could be fully completed by that time.
"I'm very angry, because I feel like my career is being used as a political pawn and a bargaining tool between two parties," Doty said.
Metro on 01/27/2019