University of Iowa pauses graduate TA hiring

Via the Cedar Rapids Gazette: 

...Separate from that paused funding freeze, the NIH announced a change Friday in how and to what degree it will cover indirect costs associated with the research projects it funds — capping indirect coverage at 15 percent for new and existing grants, down from an average of 27 percent.

Indirect research funding, according to [UI Interim Vice President for Research Lois] Geist, supports state-of-the-art labs; high-speed data processing; patient safety protocols; national security protection; hazardous waste disposal; support personnel; and maintenance staff for cleaning and supplies.

“Simply put, the federal government provides reimbursement for real costs that are incurred in the process of safely and securely conducting high-impact research,” according to Geist. “This research has tangible benefits for the lives of Iowans.”

In response to the indirect cost cap, UI’s Geist on Monday imposed three directives:

• A pause on any new NIH grant applications;
• A freeze on graduate research assistant hiring, “unless they are already budgeted as a direct cost on a funded project”;
• And a slowing of general spending.

“Researchers and departments should exert extra caution and defer starting new activities until we have more clarity,” Geist wrote.

This obviously bears watching (and not that there are a lot of graduate TAs hired in February) but the war over the NIH is not ending any time soon...