As federal funding for student research is under scrutiny, some PhD students at the University have struggled to find grant money for their projects, making the future of their degrees uncertain.
The University announced that around 80 projects were canceled due to federal grant cuts. For some PhD students affected, they must find alternatives for funding or they may not be able to afford the costs of their doctoral studies.
"ASU is complying with federal government directives to stop work on, or terminate specific grants," said Chris Fiscus, Office of Media Relations vice president, wrote in a statement. "The changes have been challenging for faculty and graduate students alike, and university leaders have worked closely with all those involved."
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Lauren Keeler, an assistant professor at the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, and two of her PhD students, were forced to leave their project after receiving notices from their department to halt.
Keeler was leading community benefits work funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, but when the presidential administration passed an executive order banning programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion, they ceased all work on the project and have not started back up since.
Keeler said she received a memorandum from the DOE on Jan. 28, which said it was "moving aggressively to implement this Executive Order by directing the suspension" of DEI initiatives and community benefits plans.
"All of this stuff is very distracting," Keeler said. "It shifts the kinds of questions that students ask and are able to ask, and anytime you have that shift, it does slow things down."
Keeler said the DOE sent her another memorandum notifying the research group they can restart their work on a voluntary basis. However, she has chosen to refrain from continuing out of fear she will not be reimbursed for any work accomplished.
Other PhD students who were affected alongside Keeler were Marsha King, a PhD student studying sustainable energy, and Vishrudh Sriramprasad, a PhD student studying civil, environmental and sustainable engineering. They said that for them, the loss of funding puts their education at risk.
Sriramprasad said he had to pick up a second lab to cover the rest of the semester's funding, which was lost in the community benefits plan, while King said she has worked as a teacher's assistant to pay for student fees until the summer.
Even though King and Sriramprasad found alternatives to their degrees, they were still depending on financial aid from their work with Keeler, as they expected it would provide them with funds for a few years, Keeler said.
"That's a pretty significant disruption," Keeler said. "We don't know if that funding will come back."
Sriramprasad said while his funding for this school year is now sorted, it is still up in the air for the summer and following semesters— periods in which he expected a stipend.
While he is hoping to find an internship, Sriramprasad said he is now unsure after the grant cuts, which made him late to apply for the summer programs.
"I was not expecting new funding to come in to support this kind of work, but I expected that the funding that was already allocated and agreed upon with the contracts... I expected it to be there," Sriramprasad said.
While King and Sriramprasad were able to find other methods to acquire financial aid for the semester, other students weren't able to find other funds.
Patrick Grandinetti, a PhD student studying molecular and cellular biology, was in between research labs when executive orders freezing grants were signed earlier this year.
Grandinetti said he had plans to join a lab at the beginning of the semester, but the opportunity was revoked because the lab lost funding for additional positions.
"I've been in limbo, going to his weekly lab meetings to learn about the science and what his other grad students do," Grandinetti said. "However, the situation continues to deteriorate rapidly."
Grandinetti said he is under the impression from his superiors that the lab he was supposed to join is in danger of completely shutting down.
Grandinetti said the funding he wanted was from the National Institute of Health, which has frozen some of its grants.
"These grants are the lifeblood of academic research," Grandinetti said. "Our sole lifeline has been cut. That's it. We have nothing else, so now I don't know what to do."
Like King, Grandinetti said he is working as a TA, but his salary might not be enough for his living costs or to fund his research. He said he feels as if his only choice is to leave his education unfinished and join the workforce.
"My dream of becoming a doctor has been not taken away, (but) ripped away from me by people that don't have an iota of an understanding of how science works," Grandinetti said. "I'm beyond devastated."
Grandinetti said he wishes the University gave him more guidance when searching for financial assistance. He said he believes it should be the University's responsibility to address missing funding.
When he did turn to faculty of the University for advice on how to continue his degree, Grandinetti said he was told by one person to go to Europe to continue his studies.
According to the statement from Fiscus, the University has found alternative income sources for all graduate students' positions with terminated funding.
According to Grandinetti, he did not receive effective assistance from the University to help him continue pursuing his degree, resulting in his departure from higher education.
"The one constant in my life was knowledge, education, research, that science was always going to be my bedrock— that no matter what was going on, I could pursue a degree," Grandinetti said.
Edited by George Headley, Sophia Ramirez, Tiya Talwar, Alysa Horton and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at ehprest1@asu.edu and follow @ellis_reports on X.
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Ellis is a sophomore studying journalism and mass communication. This is her first semester with The State Press. She has also worked at Arizona PBS and Blaze Radio.
