Funding for 17 WVU research projects held up, partly due to Trump’s research money freeze

Funding for 17 research projects at West Virginia University has been cancelled or suspended, including federal research dollars axed by President Donald Trump. The Republican president cancelled billions of dollars in research money for universities as he pushes for a more conservative ideology in higher education. 

Shauna Johnson, WVU’s executive director of strategic communications, said the cancelled research projects had been supported by a mix of state, foundation and federal grants.

“WVU is an R1 university where quality education and the cutting edge go hand-in-hand. Budget reductions in research and student aid will have an impact on the university’s education and research missions,” Johnson said. 

The funding cancellation or suspension included some multi-institution projects on which WVU was a partner.

Federal funding agencies that were supposed to fund projects included the U.S. Department of Education, National Endowment for the Humanities and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Documents shared by the university showed that the EPA had canceled more than $945,000 in funding for WVU’s Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design.

“WVU has worked with our congressional delegation, and with our higher education partners overall, in efforts to preserve research funding,” Johnson said. 

“It’s important to note that federal funding investments in research have implications far beyond the present day. The research we are doing now will benefit future generations and we are hopeful the support will be continued,” she continued. 

Trump’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion policies directives has also impacted higher education funding. Johnson explained that the anti-DEI directives had impacted some research funding at WVU, but it was not the main reason for cancelled or stalled projects.

The president cancelled $783 million in National Institutes of Health research funding for any projects tied to federal DEI efforts. The U.S. The Supreme Court last month upheld Trump’s directive, which is expected to slash hundreds of research projects nationwide.

“To my knowledge, there has been no loss of funding linked to DEI initiatives at Marshall.  Additionally, the impact of new federal guidelines on research grants has been minimal at Marshall University,” said Leah Payne, director of university communications at Marshall.

Hans Fogle, executive director of university communications at Shepherd University, said “None of our federal grants have been cancelled due to any assertion of a DEI issue.”