Waking up to the crunch of ice and metal, the all too familiar sound of snowplows signals the winter season is here to stay. With the beckoning of a new semester, it feels an appropriate time to reflect on the fall semester’s funding frenzy from which academics are still recovering.
From September to November marks a marathon season of grant writing involving not only professors but graduate and undergraduate students, in addition to a host of research staff. Grants are crucial to research institutions for funding research materials, staff, graduate student costs, as well as the university. While Cornell does have a sizable endowment, which is currently valued at $11.8 billion, research is primarily supported by grants. A whopping 64% indirect cost rate (on the Ithaca campus) is applied to any research grant that Cornell receives which supports administrative staff and maintenance.
The grant cycle is typically two to three years with applicants often left in limbo depending on the ebbs and flows of the federal processes in charge of rewarding grants. Events such as recent federal shutdowns have a great impact on researchers' ability to conduct their work and plan for future projects including the hiring of graduate students. While Cornell has made a settlement with the federal government to release funds, there still exists a cloud of uncertainty within academic institutions regarding funding. I myself am left wondering if the grant I am applying for today might be dissolved tomorrow. Grants that have yet to be slashed are worded carefully and spun new tales of economic value as opposed to mitigating the effects of climate change. Additionally, the recent change in policy for incoming PhD graduate students requires five years of confirmed funding, which does not align with the typical grant cycle. The NSF GRFP, an important grant for many graduate students, recently slashed the number of students to be awarded by 50%. This marks an all time lowest acceptance rate in fifteen years. As a graduate student who applied during the previous NSF GRFP grant cycle, I along with my fellow graduate students felt the panic of the most stable funding source being shaken to its core. When the most reliable funding sources to support graduate students are no longer available and TA slots are becoming more competitive than ever, the pressure on graduate students is insurmountable. It feels as though scholars are in an endless loop of grant writing with no end date in sight.
When I initially entered academia, I was ready to dive into the work but was abruptly stalled by the minefield of grant writing. It is ironic that we as scholars, who are so passionate and dedicated to our craft, must spend an inordinate amount of blood, sweat, and tears writing grants rather than focusing on our research. Not to mention the mystery that is the peer review process for awarding grants. This long standing tradition coveted by academics is actually an inconsistent process and a poor indicator of future grant productivity. A qualitative study in 2021 determined that scholars would be open to a grant lottery system in conjunction with a peer review process just to shake things up. Other methods of reducing inefficiencies in the research process might include streamlining the grant process and making grant calls more specific to a research group’s subject of expertise.
Despite the draconian times facing academia, scholars can unite in the fact that grant writing sucks and takes away precious time that could be spent conducting research. In an effort to make federal grants more efficient, evolved grant criteria and review processes could provide academic funding with a much needed updated reboot. While some academics might find comfort in the ivory towers, the howl of the old north wind whispers a change is on the horizon.
Natalia Butler M.S./Ph.D. is an Opinion Columnist from the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment. Her monthly column, Beyond Ivory Towers, explores the role of academics in the face of the climate and biodiversity crisis. She can be reached at nbutler@cornellsun.com.
