How slashing university research grants impacts Colorado’s economy and national innovation
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Federal funding cuts in the billions have impacted dozens of universities in the US. An administrator at the University of Colorado at Boulder explains the local effects.
This article was originally published by The Conversation.
The Trump administration has been freezing or reducing federal grants to universities across the country.
Over the past several months, universities have lost more than US$11 billion in funding, according to NPR. More than two dozen universities, including the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Denver, have been affected. Research into cancer, farming solutions and climate resiliency are just a few of the many projects nationally that have seen cuts.
The Conversation asked Massimo Ruzzene, senior vice chancellor for research and innovation at the University of Colorado Boulder, to explain how these cuts and freezes are impacting the university he works for and Colorado’s local economy.
How important are federal funds to CU Boulder?
Federal funding pays for approximately 70% of CU Boulder’s research each year. That’s about $495 million in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
The other 30% of research funding comes from a variety of sources. The second-largest is international partnerships at $127 million. Last year, CU Boulder also received $27 million in philanthropic gifts to support research and approximately $29 million from collaborations with industry.
CU Boulder uses this money to fund research that advances fields like artificial intelligence, space exploration and planetary sciences, quantum technologies, biosciences and climate and energy.
At CU Boulder, federal funding also supports research projects like the Dust Accelerator Laboratory that helps us understand the composition and structure of cosmic dust. This research allows scientists to reconstruct the processes that formed planets, moons and organic molecules.
How much federal funding has CU Boulder lost?
So far in 2025, CU Boulder has received 56 grant cancellations or stop-work orders. Those amount to approximately $30 million in lost funding. This number is not inclusive of awards that are on hold and awaiting action by the sponsor.
This number also does not include the funds that have not been accessible due the considerable lag in funding from agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Nationwide, National Science Foundation funding has dropped by more than 50% through the end of May of this year compared to the average of the past 10 years. The university anticipates that our funding received from these agencies will drop a similar amount, but the numbers are still being collected for this year.
What research has been impacted?
A wide variety. To take just one example, CU Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research investigate how to monitor, predict, respond to and recover from extreme weather conditions and natural disasters.
This research directly impacts the safety, well-being and prosperity of Colorado residents facing wildfires, droughts and floods.
Past research from these groups includes recovery efforts following the 2021 Marshall Fire in the Boulder area. Researchers collaborated with local governments and watershed groups to monitor environmental impacts and develop dashboards that detailed their findings.
How might cuts affect Colorado’s aerospace economy?
Colorado has more aerospace jobs per capita than any other state. The sector employs more than 55,000 people and contributes significantly to both Colorado’s economy and the national economy.
This ecosystem encompasses research universities such as CU Boulder and Colorado-based startups like Blue Canyon Technologies and Ursa Major Technologies. It also includes established global companies like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies.
At CU Boulder, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics is one of the world’s premier space science research institutions. Researchers at the lab design, build and operate spacecraft and other instruments that contribute critical data. That data helps us understand Earth’s atmosphere, the Sun, planetary systems and deep space phenomena. If the projects the lab supports are cut, then it’s likely the lab will be cut as well.
The Presidential Budget Request proposes up to 24% cuts to NASA’s annual budget. These include reductions of 47% for the Science Mission Directorate. The directorate supports more than a dozen space missions at CU Boulder. That cut could have an immediate impact on university programs of approximately $50 million.
One of the largest space missions CU Boulder is involved in is the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution orbiter. MAVEN, as it’s known, provides telecommunications and space weather monitoring capabilities. These are necessary to support future human and robotic missions to Mars over the next decade and beyond, a stated priority for the White House. If MAVEN were to be canceled, experts estimate that it would cost almost $1 billion to restart it.
Have the cuts hit quantum research?
While the federal government has identified quantum technology as a national priority, the fiscal year 2026 budget proposal only maintains existing funding levels. It does not introduce new investments or initiatives.
I’m concerned that this stagnation, amid broader cuts to science agencies, could undermine progress in this field and undercut the training of its critical workforce. The result could be the U.S. ceding its leadership in quantum innovation to global competitors.
Massimo Ruzzene is Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation at the University of Colorado Boulder