Education News

U of M has lost 79 grants totaling more than $22M from federal cuts

A person biking at the University
A biker rides along the Washington Avenue Bridge on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.
Sophia Marschall | MPR News

The University of Minnesota says it has lost 79 federal grants totaling more than $22 million after Trump administration budget cuts and that it does not know what's coming next.

The U of M says most of the cuts are related to biomedical, environmental, and energy and natural resources work. It also says roughly 220 university personnel are connected to the terminated grants.

At a Board of Regents meeting Thursday, Vice President for Research and Innovation Shashank Priya outlined where most of the grant funding has been lost: “The most common ones are including DEI and gender-related activities… And other areas such as climate and vaccine research.”

President Rebecca Cunningham says the university remains a "research powerhouse," but she says managing through all of the uncertainty has added a tremendous amount to the workload of administrators.

The university has put together a rapid response team to help navigate budget cuts. The school is also working with other higher education institutions for best practices in this time of unknowns.

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