🔒CT lawmakers weigh $50M state research fund as federal grants dry up

The state legislature is considering a bill that would create a new Academic Research Funding Commission and allocate $50 million in state money to support university researchers reeling from federal funding cuts. Senate Bill 428, scheduled to be discussed during the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee’s Tuesday meeting at 11:30 a.m., has support from university administrators, faculty members and higher education advocates who have warned that unprecedented disruptions to federal research funding are threatening Connecticut’s research capacity and the economic activity it generates. The commission would consist of 13 members — faculty representatives from the University of Connecticut, Connecticut State University System and nonprofit independent colleges, plus two industry representatives appointed by the governor. The vice presidents of research at UConn and Yale University would serve as co-chairs. The commission would award research grants to higher-ed faculty across the state, with priority given to funding “research conducted on topics and subjects that have been reduced, restricted or eliminated as a result of changes in the funding of grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and other federal agencies.” The bill would appropriate $50 million from the General Fund for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2027. Initial appointments to the commission would be due by Sept. 1, 2026, with the first meeting held by the same date. The commission would be required to submit an annual report to the governor, the Commissioner of Higher Education and the legislature beginning Jan. 1, 2028. Lindsay DiStefano, UConn’s interim vice president for research, innovation and entrepreneurship, in written testimony said the university has directly or indirectly lost more than $100 million in research funding since January 2025. That total includes roughly $53 million from terminated grants and unexpected non-renewals, and a $54 million decline in new research awards compared to fiscal year 2024. DiStefano said the losses have affected dozens of research programs and jeopardized work that supports more than 2,600 faculty, research staff, trainees and graduate students. UConn has responded by accepting fewer graduate students, halting investments in seed funding and declining to renew staff members paid through research grants, according to her testimony. UConn research delivered more than $700 million in economic activity across more than 240 Connecticut cities and towns in fiscal year 2025, she said, supporting more than 3,000 jobs. She noted that UConn generates $8 in statewide economic impact for every $10 of federal research funds received. Faculty members also offered testimony. Jonathan Klassen, an associate professor of molecular and cell biology at UConn, wrote that a National Science Foundation grant studying how microbes affect animal responses to forest fires was provisionally approved in June 2025, but funding for it has been reduced and delayed. Michele Maltz-Matyschsyk, an assistant professor at UConn and member of UConn-AAUP, wrote in testimony that she has had to scale back research, postpone hiring undergraduate researchers and absorb rising costs for laboratory supplies without additional support. She said colleagues across departments face canceled experiments, constrained access to datasets and growing hesitancy to communicate scientific findings publicly due to censorship pressures. The bill also drew support from Jennifer Widness, president of the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges, who called the commission’s structure — with co-chairs from both public and private research universities — a collaborative approach to strengthening the state’s research capacity. Her group submitted data showing that Connecticut higher education research and development expenditures statewide grew 126% between 2010 and 2024, reaching about $2 billion.