This email is being sent to PIs with open federal awards, deans, research associate deans, and unit heads whose units have federal sponsored projects.

Dear Colleagues,    

It has been a while since I have sent an email to this community, and I hope you’ve all been doing well as we head into spring and the busy end of the academic year. Today, I have a relatively long list of updates.

President Trump submitted his budget request to Congress on Friday for fiscal year 2027. The request is the beginning of a new budget appropriations cycle and signals the administration’s priorities to Congress and the public. It proposes similar cuts to the agencies and overall domestic budget we saw last year.  

The president’s budget proposal is the first step in a long process that now shifts to Congress, which will write the spending bills that must pass both the House and Senate. We saw last year that the president’s request proposed very significant cuts for funding agencies, but Congress largely sustained science funding for FY 26.

Speaking of FY 26 appropriations, we are tracking closely the delays to science agency spending authority. There are many science agencies that are not currently able to issue awards. We are working with the national higher education associations to communicate impacts.

The U.S. Forest Service announced last week it will consolidate and relocate its leadership for research and development to Fort Collins. The Forest Service has also announced it will be developing an operations service center as well as locating a new Colorado/Nebraska state office in Fort Collins. 

CSU is continuing to engage in lawsuits in support of our research enterprise. For example, on March 30, CSU submitted a declaration for a lawsuit brought by attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia regarding the new USDA terms and conditions, which have the potential to broadly impact the university’s research, extension, engagement, and forestry activities.

OVPR is investing with internal funds to better position our research community for extramural funding. We recently awarded six Catalyst ‘Go’ proposals as well as a number of Quarterly Strategic Investment funds to support infrastructure and projects that should amplify our research scope and capability. In addition, we recently issued an RFP to support activities that significantly strengthen the capacity of our research community to conduct research that integrates AI into scholarship, research, and development. This funding is meant to rapidly broaden our ability to use AI in research and development. Apply by April 22.

We’ve also launched an exciting new partnership with CU Boulder to share core facilities and equipment this week. The agreement gives you access to world-class resources at CU at their internal rate structure and vice versa. This makes Colorado an even stronger contender in securing future research funding.  

Finally, thanks to all who have completed your research security training. We greatly appreciate how many folks have responded to this new federal requirement. Federal agencies now require research security training to be completed at the time of proposal submission and then annually for active awards. This requirement applies to all sponsored projects, not only research. The training can be completed in about an hour.

I’ll keep you updated on the federal appropriations process and other developments of note. As always, I’m grateful for all that you do.

Best,    

Cass   

  

Cassandra Moseley, Ph.D. (she/hers)
Vice President for Research

Professor, Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship
Office of the Vice President for Research