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

Dear Colleagues,

After Senate action late last week, this morning the House of Representatives passed the remaining fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills. The president has indicated that he will sign the bills, which will end the partial shutdown. The bills include a two-week continuing resolution for the Department of Homeland Security.

As FY26 appropriations bills show, Congress continues to strongly support the federal role in scientific research on a bipartisan basis. Scientific research at most agencies is funded at about last year’s levels (some ups and downs), including many of the agencies we work with the most: USDA, NSF, NOAA, NIH, NASA, and the Departments of Energy and Defense. It will take some weeks for the agencies to receive spending authority, but I am hopeful that the flow of new awards and continuations will increase in the coming weeks and months.

Please take every opportunity to write and submit proposals to take advantage of this federal funding. The Research Acceleration Office remains available to support you in these efforts.  In addition, please note two internal funding opportunities, posted on CSU’s InfoReady Review site:  

• The OVPR’s Catalyst Program ‘Go’ competition launched this week to support interdisciplinary teams to develop and submit major proposals. Go proposals will be due March 9.
• The OVPR’s Quarterly Strategic Investment funding opportunity also launched this week and includes an emphasis on activities that facilitate researchers’ efforts to respond to the shifting funding landscape. Quarterly proposals will be due March 2.

In other recent good news, on Jan. 5, a federal appeals court upheld a previous ruling that the National Institutes of Health could not cap F&A rates at 15%. This follows other similar rulings for other agencies. Congress also included language in the appropriations bills to prevent OMB and science agencies from changing current F&A rates. These bills also encourage collaboration with higher education associations to identify potential new models.

Taken together, these developments are positive for the research enterprise here at CSU and nationally. Certainly, there continues to be substantial headwinds for higher education including the slow pace of federal funding for research driven by reduced staffing and other state and federal dynamics.

I greatly appreciate everyone’s partnership and commitment to CSU’s mission. Please reach out if you have any suggestions, questions, or concerns.

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