Just one day after electrical and computer engineering professor Joseph Camp, Ph.D., had a meeting with the National Science Foundation for a new grant proposal he was working on, he received news that seven of his other grants were put “under review” following a change in federal direction.

The directive, obtained by NPR, was part of a Trump White House order to pause federal financial assistance from federal agencies in January. It caused widespread confusion around the country to individual and organizational recipients of federal funding, including hospitals, universities and agencies that oversee federal contracts. The administration rescinded its order within days of ordering a pause on funding in January, and as of early March, two federal courts had also blocked the spending freezes in the 22 states where attorneys general sued to stop the Trump administration’s plan from going into effect.

Camp, interim chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering and a seasoned researcher at SMU, conducts studies in a variety of fields, including wireless systems, drone communications, machine learning predictions and blockchain networks. His research, which has been cited over 2,000 times on Google Scholar, has been funded by various government grants from agencies like the National Science Foundation (NSF) where he also received a Career Award in 2012, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.

But the recent policy changes ushered in by the new Trump administration and its budget realignment have left Camp’s research in a state of uncertainty.

“For the first time in my career, I’m without NSF funds, and a huge part of that is because I have a lot of proposals under review,” Camp said. “Normally, when I have this much under review, at least something turns up to be funded.”

The wave of grant pauses across government agencies has restricted funding to university faculty members performing research all around the nation. As a result, many grant review panels, like the one Camp was scheduled to have, have either been postponed or canceled. Grant proposals are being further scrutinized, stalling funding for many research projects.

According to documents obtained from the SMU Office of Research and Innovation, SMU is currently the recipient of 164 active federal grants totaling nearly $30 million from agencies including the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education. Since 2010, SMU’s research‑and‑development spending has climbed steadily from $18.7 million in 2010 to almost  $59.8 million in the  2023 fiscal year.

Though most of SMU’s existing research funding remains unaffected because grant awards are typically multi-year commitments with funding already legally obligated, the uncertainty now leaves the university grappling with the potential impact on future research projects and new grant opportunities.

Not all of SMU’s funding remained untouched. With the Trump administration’s additional executive orders cracking down on projects, training or programs aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion, federal agencies are taking an active step in canceling active research projects that contain diversity-linked language.

SMU had two significant grants frozen in January under this category, according to sources familiar with the matter. The two grants, which totalled over $334,000, were disbursed through the Federal Railroad Agency—a subagency of the Department of Transportation—and were intended to perform research aimed at improving railroad workforce training and advancing railway safety technologies.

It is likely these grants were singled out from SMU’s 164 federal agency grants due to the language used in the grant contracts that were flagged for review by the current administration. Documents obtained from federal records show the inclusion of the word “equitable” in one of the contracts. The contract details read “enhancing railroad workforce training through equitable smart infrastructure experiences.” The grant fell under the FRA’s efforts to promote workforce diversity and accessibility in railroad development.

Sukumaran Nair, Ph.D., vice provost for research and chief innovation officer at SMU, acknowledged the disruptive nature of the federal freezes, but said the university was working with federal agencies to ensure minimal disruption to ongoing research by faculty members.

“Things are a little bit in some kind of uncertainty. People don’t exactly know how it works, but guidance has come from the agencies saying what we’re supposed to do,” Nair said in an interview with The Daily Campus. “Our research office is working with our faculty to know exactly what the various components are and we would review the guidance to know how they can continue working.”

A week after the freezes, SMU’s Office of Research and Innovation updated its website with a new page titled “SMU Federal Research Updates” which contained information on the grant freezes, the executive orders behind the freezes and guidance for faculty members in navigating the new funding restrictions. SMU also held a town-hall meeting with faculty members to discuss new procedures to be followed when submitting new grant proposals.

SMU News and Communications issued a statement acknowledging the disruptions and emphasized the university’s ongoing efforts to mitigate them and continue research activity.

“We anticipate that most research activities will continue as planned. Research assistants, graduate students, and postdocs may experience changes to project timelines and award requirements. University officials are working with federal agencies to adjust grants and contracts as needed to minimize disruptions. SMU’s Office of Research and Innovation is supporting principal investigators in navigating these changes. The University will continue monitoring federal developments and provide updates to help keep research on track.”

The unsettling funding landscape could potentially affect SMU’s recently-acquired R1 university status, Camp said. As an R1 university, SMU is required to maintain a high level of research activity by securing external funding, graduating a high number of doctoral fellows and publishing research in acclaimed journals.

Between the grant approval delays and additional scrutiny being applied to every grant proposal, faculty members are becoming reluctant to submit grant proposals in the first place, potentially causing a significant slowdown in research activity at SMU, according to Camp. If the university is unable to meet research quotas at the end of every three-year review session by the Carnegie Foundation, it could be stripped of the top designation. To keep the label, SMU must maintain a budget of at least $45 million in annual research spend and award around 70 doctorates a year.

“People are just hesitant to commit to moving forward on both sides [the federal agencies and the researchers],” Camp said. “For some people it could be kind of discouraging – saying it is not a good time to receive funding, so I don’t want to put forth the time.”

While Camp awaits further guidance from the government agencies he receives grants from, his research continues, supplemented by departmental funding through SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering. The funds are used to conduct experiments, purchase necessary research materials and provide stipends for the research assistants and postdoctoral fellows working under him.

“They [graduate students] are having to take on additional responsibilities to provide value to the department in the form of teaching in addition to trying to continue their own research journeys with their Phd programs.“

Assistant dean for graduate education at SMU’s Moody School of Graduate Studies, Alan Itkin Ph.D., said the federal grants support over 100 graduate and postdoctoral students through scholarships, tuition waivers and research assistant positions offered by faculty members. Without the funding from these grants, many students face financial uncertainty and potential disruptions to their academic progress.

“It is a very high priority of the Moody school to ensure that our students have the support that they need to do their academic work and do the important research that they do in support of the larger research endeavor going on at the university,” Itkin said.

As the department’s funds are limited, Camp and other faculty members are looking for other sources of funding for their research that have less regulatory bottlenecks.

“We’re looking for new ways to gather funds – whether that be industry partnerships or collaborations,” Camp said. “I am currently working with companies like Toyota, AT&T and Ericsson to see where we can get additional funding in the form of partnerships to sustain our projects.”
For now, as SMU faculty members navigate the changing research landscape with limited clarity on when—or if—federal grants will resume, the university urges patience, as detailed in a statement by President R. Gerald Turner in February.
Camp echoed Turner, insisting that he and other faculty members have to “adapt” and “get creative” to get through this time.

“We’ll find ways to keep moving forward, no matter how frustrating the landscape gets,” he said.