By SHANNON O. WELLS
At the Sept. 19 Senate Research committee meeting, David Brown, vice chancellor for government relations and advocacy, shared an update on where federal research funding and Congressional appropriations stand regarding grant-generating organizations such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Less than two weeks later, a deadlocked Congress failed to reach a funding deal for fiscal year 2026, shutting down the federal government as of midnight, Oct. 1. With Republicans and Democrats at odds on federal spending levels and health-care subsidies, there was no clear path to ending the stalemate Oct. 3.
In a statement issued Oct. 2, Pitt administration said it was “closely monitoring the situation,” but meanwhile will “continue to operate normally.
“There may, however, be impacts to some areas of the University community depending on the length of the shutdown.”
That, of course, includes Pitt Research. The Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research is preparing a webpage to help answer researchers’ questions about their awards, contracts and contact with program officers. The statement noted that the existing Oct. 5 deadline for all NIH grant proposals will hold even if the government shutdown persists.
Here is a rundown of how the government shutdown may affect Pitt offices and departments that serve the University:
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The Office of Admissions and Financial Aid does not anticipate any immediate impacts on student financial aid. In the event of an extended shutdown, there could be impacts to the FAFSA or federal loans and grants. In that event, OAFA would communicate directly with those who may be affected.
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The Office of International Services advises that if there is a shutdown, the State Department Consular Programs and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services should continue to operate but may experience longer processing times.
- The Department of Veterans Affairs has contingencies and advanced appropriations that allow many critical services and benefits to continue in the event of a government shutdown. Education benefits will continue to operate as normal. Additionally, VA medical facilities, hospitals, outpatient clinics and pharmacies will remain open. The Office of Veterans Services will be able to answer any VA-related questions and provide resources.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and provide relevant updates through direct communication to those affected and on the above websites, as appropriate,” the statement read.
Essential training
In other Senate Research topics, Bill Yates, vice chancellor of research protections and professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Otolaryngology, provided an update on the research regulatory landscape. This focused on CHIPS and Science Act provisions, including the Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program prohibition and the NIH requirement for annual research-security training.
“Some things that are happening now on the regulatory scene actually date back from 2022 (involving the) CHIPS and Science Act that came out of the Biden administration that had a number of research-security provisions in it,” Yates said, which required funding agencies to promulgate several responses to the bill. “This is technically something that's new, but it harkens back to a federal law from 2022 requiring them to do it.”
The Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program prohibition restricts federal research money for anyone who is part of a program “organized, managed or funded” by a foreign government to recruit science and technology professionals or students in targeted fields. Funding agencies also require annual research-security training at the time of application.
“To send in an application to a funding agency, you need to have this training,” Yates said, which requires institutional disclosure of all gifts, contracts or financial support greater than $50,000 from a “country of concern,” currently including China, North Korea, Russia and Iran.
“For decades, (federal law required) reporting any foreign gift more than $250,000. The CHIPS Act changed that to $50,000 or any gift from a country of concern,” he said of federal CHIPS and Science Act laws passed by Congress and signed into law by former President Biden.
Guidance issued in July 2024 from the Office of Science and Technology Policy requires funding agencies to implement all research security requirements in the CHIPS act involving cyber security, foreign-travel security, annual research security training and training for investigators who perform work involving export-control technologies.
“All the funding agencies were told to do this in July 2024,” Yates explained. “But I think with the (Trump) administrative change, things got slowed down … So this is what's rolling out now.”
After Oct. 10, those who submit a grant to NSF, including any researcher and all key personnel in the grant, must have completed research security training or an application will not go forward.
The NIH also is issuing research security requirements, which Yates called “a little confusing … They came out last week and just said, ‘You need to do research security training by January in order to submit a grant to NIH.”
All key senior personnel must have completed required research security training within the past 12 months.
“They go so far that you need a certificate for your training or certification,” he said. “You have to upload that for every key personnel into your grant, (including a) signed affidavit that you've done it for each key person on the grant … And presumably, they won't process your grant unless that's there.”
The Office of Sponsored Programs must certify all requirements have been completed.
“When you actually do a progress report on your grant, you're also going to have to recertify you've done research security training in the past 12 months,” Yates said, emphasizing it is an NIH rather than a Pitt requirement.
Yates “strongly encouraged” all Pitt researchers to take the steps to receive an NIH Research Security Training certificate.
“If you have verification, you've done the training, you can put it into your grant,” he said of the four training modules. “What we and others did is … consolidated the four hours of training into a condensed one-hour module.”
Yates called the interactive module doesn’t involve reading text and taking a quiz. “It requires you to interact or play games as you go through the module to keep your attention,” he said of the “eye opening” process. “It really is focused on foreign engagement.”
Yates said he is trying to spread the word about the importance of fulfilling the training requirements.
“You've got to do this. If you're submitting an NIH grant from January on, you can't submit it unless you've done this training,” he said. “You have to put your certificate in your grant application … So, please do the training.”
Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.
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