KSMU News Director Michele Skalicky talked with Dr. Tamara Jahnke, interim provost at Missouri State University.
How important is research at Missouri State University?
Jahnke: Research is so very important. It keeps faculty alive. They get into education because they are lifelong learners, and they're curious, and they want to know new things. So I think having that, and its importance to them, but then to share that with students and to help to mentor them in the various disciplines about what it means to ask important questions. And then how do we do the work to find the answers to those questions? And it's different in every discipline, but it's really what makes us all scholars.
Can you give any specific examples of some research that's going on at the university?
Jahnke: Oh, wow. Yes, absolutely. So there is research involving the HIV virus and how we might look at even newer and better medications, and that is happening on campus, but also looking at nanoparticles. We have nanoparticles everywhere and yet, EPA has not found a way to kind of regulate them or figure out what's safe and what's not safe. And so we have a number of experiments going on to try to understand nanoparticles.
How important is that research in the students' learning experience?
Jahnke: I think it helps them, it helps students learn how to ask questions if they never got brave enough to do it in class. So, helps them to frame questions, but then also to think about, what are the experiments? Where do I need to go to find the answers to those questions? And so I think it really helps our students become those critical thinkers that we want them to be.
And how much federal money goes to Missouri State in an average year for research?
Jahnke: Well, the last few years have not been entirely average. So this year we're right now tracking at about $27 million. So the last two years we've had $80 to $120 million and now $27 million so far this year.
How much federal funding has MSU lost or is anticipating losing because of federal funding cuts imposed by President Donald Trump's administration?
Jahnke: I don't I don't know that we can fully predict anticipated. So far we've lost about, almost $4 million in in federal funding, at least one from the National Science Foundation and then in other areas as well.
What impact has that had or do you expect it to have on the university if any?
Jahnke: It will certainly affect specific faculty or programs that have those grants. It could affect students who have been hired on those projects who, most of the time when you receive a termination notice, they're giving us 30 days to to close it up, which means those students don't have a job over the summer, maybe. And so it does very specifically for that project, it just stops it.
Do you know if this will impact the number of graduate students Missouri State is able to accept? I know that there's a lot of research that gets done by graduate students.
Jahnke: Absolutely. So far, we have not had a grant terminated that was funding graduate students. And so I am hopeful that we can continue to do what we've always done in terms of graduate education and keep and grow the graduate student population on campus.
Why should people care about the research that takes place at universities across the country?
Jahnke: That, the basic research, often in the sciences, is what industry is not doing anymore. So, if we're going to have new medicines, if we're going to have new ways of trying to deal with cancer and so that we can have better outcomes related to that if we're going to be able to care for our air, our water, all of our natural resources, we need these fundamental things to be happening because it doesn't happen — that funding for that is not happening in any other way.
Is Missouri State doing anything to advocate for federal funding, for research to remain in place that you know of?
Jahnke: We are certainly, we continue to apply for funding. We are watching for where are the new goals that the various agencies might have in funding. So maybe we can pivot a little bit and write proposals to that and be able to continue to receive the funding. So I think we're watching for that, but we're also staying in touch with our friends in Washington, DC to know,, where will the opportunities be for the future?
Is there anything else that we need to know about research at Missouri State University and funding cuts at the federal level?
So I think the the other big news that especially NIH and NSF have have sent out word to us is that all new grants will only allow 15% indirect currently. Our indirect rate is just right around 40%. That will change how we do things. It will change how we think about what we're funding, what we're not funding, what we can do here at the university. I think it will affect us, but I also think that we're smart, and we can figure this out and that we will come up with alternative plans.
