The state budget crisis, economic recession and shifting national priorities after Sept. 11 will not have a significant impact on research at UW-Madison in the short run, according to several administrators. But if these factors produce long-term cuts or changes in funding priorities, the university may feel the effects, they said.
UW-Madison received 43 percent of its budget in extramural funds'sources outside of direct state funding'in the 2001-'02 fiscal year, according to Tim Norris, a policy analyst in the UW-Madison Office of Budget, Planning and Analysis.
Nearly three-fourths of the $693 million received from outside sources in the 2000-'01 fiscal year went toward funding research. Federal funding made up about two-thirds of that, according to figures presented by Martin Cadwallader, interim dean of the UW-Madison Graduate School, at the Feb. 8 UW System Board of Regents meeting.
Cadwallader said changes in research funding tend to get \smoothed out"" because researchers receive grants that are spread out over several years. A one-year dip in federal research funding, therefore, might not directly affect research expenditures at UW-Madison.
""We wouldn't notice [changes in funding levels] quite as much as you might imagine, because those expenditures are spread out,"" he said.
Paul DeLuca, associate dean for research and graduate studies in the UW-Madison Medical School, said everyone is affected by state budget cuts, and those combined with a deeper economic recession could hinder research.
But he said in terms of shifts in funding priorities, such as a new national interest in bioterrorism-related research, UW-Madison researchers may be able to adjust more rapidly than those at other institutions. Funding here is driven by individual investigators and their interests, rather than ""centers of excellence"" that focus on a specific area, he said.
""[UW-Madison] can be in a position to move more rapidly,"" he said.
The good news for researchers is that federal funding shows no sign of an immediate decline. President Bush's proposed 2003 budget includes an 8.3 percent increase in funding for scientific research and development, according to a Feb. 12 New York Times article. This increase is not spread equally among federal agencies, but some of the biggest beneficiaries, including the National Institutes of Health, contribute significantly to money received by UW-Madison researchers.
At the state level, the outlook is not as rosy. Due to a $1.1 billion deficit in the current biennium, most state agencies, including the UW System, will be forced to make budget cuts. UW-Madison Vice Chancellor for Administration John Torphy said these short-term cuts would not have a significant impact on research, since most state funding goes to instruction, student services and academic support. But he said long-term cuts could affect research by hurting the university's reputation and consequently its ""human resource base"" of faculty and staff, as happened in the early 1990s, or by affecting its physical resources by limiting building projects, like in the 1970s and '80s.
Torphy said the ""most hopeful sign"" for long-term university funding is the commitment Gov. Scott McCallum and the state Legislature have shown to education as they attempt to make cuts in the budget.
""It will not be a continued series of reductions, at least I'm hoping,"" he said.
For individual researchers, the biggest question may be what happens to their specific funding sources, be they federal agencies, private institutes or other entities. UW-Madison wildlife ecology Professor William Karasov, who receives much of his funding for work in wildlife nutrition and toxicology from the National Science Foundation, said if, for example, funding was shifted from NSF to NIH, it could negatively impact his work.
""Unless I could do research in the area funded by NIH, it would be a loss to me,"" he said. ""I wouldn't be able to compete for those other funds.\
