By Lisa Newman
Some members of the Northeastern community may see fewer opportunities for research funding following Congress’ Sept. 30 passage of the 2009 Continuing Resolutions Bill, which will hold current research funding levels through March.
The school obtains some of its grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH), according to the university’s research website. Funding for NIH will be at least 10 percent lower than what was promised for 2009 because of the bill, which was passed Sept. 30, according to the NIH website.
The exact amount that each area of funding will receive will depend on the divisions that the specific NIH Institutes and Centers decide on, said Jeanette Gordon, the assistant grants compliance officer for the NIH.
This is not the first bill of its kind; a similar bill was passed in 1995 when President Bill Clinton was leaving office, according to media reports.
Massachusetts Senator John Kerry said he voted in favor of the bill because it guarantees funding to government supported agencies, and provides relief and support to our troops, veterans and victims of natural disasters, according to a statement released by Kerry’s office.
Professor Hameed Metghalchi, chair and senior associate dean of the department of mechanical and industrial engineering, said federal grants are the primary source of funding for engineering, and getting money elsewhere is difficult.
“Most of the money is from federal agencies and in order to adapt to a drop in funding, you’d have to get more money in the industry and that’s a problem,” he said. “In the industry they want to solve whatever problem they’re giving money to in a month and research doesn’t happen that fast.”
In fields like science, technology and medicine that rely on research to propel themselves forward, the lack of funding opportunities can be a real set back, Metghalchi said. Universities provide much of the innovation needed to make progress in these fields and without funding, fresh ideas that often come from students cannot thrive, he said.
Meredith Harris, chair of physical therapy, said she works in clinical research specifically related to obesity prevention in children and HIV in children. Her work with HIV is currently being used by some healthcare professionals in South Africa, she said.
Harris said research is crucial to the advancement of medicine.
“Clinical research makes sure that inventions are available and are safe and that as time goes on new and better ones are created,” she said. “Without the continuous review, progress is not possible. What would happen if the technology for the artificial limbs would have never been developed? It’s important to have a community of scholars that get together to solve problems. It’s what they’re committed to.”
Biology professor Slava Epstein said he is not convinced that research funding is in a crisis. However, he said research remains important for his students.
“If they want to be competitive, they would have to be familiar with the state-of-the-art research in the field and the only people that can provide that are researchers,” Epstein said. “Northeastern would have to be a research university or else we would fail the students.”
