Updates on Federal Executive Orders and Research Activities

This webpage is dynamic and updated frequently. Please check back often.

Last updated December 17, 2025

 

Open Forum for Research

Betsy Boyd, senior associate vice president for Government and Community Relations, and Val Whelan, assistant vice president for Sponsored Projects Services, will lead a research open forum January 22, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. via Zoom, the link for which has shared been shared via the weekly update email.

On December 1, 2025, interim VP for Research and Innovation, Geri Richmond, held an open forum for research. Topics included updates on emerging challenges to federal research funding (e.g., the Financial Accountability in Research [FAIR] model, federal agency funding) and an introduction to the OVPRI strategic plan.

View a recording of the forum and the presentation slides. 

Guidelines for the Research Community

The Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation (OVPRI) continues to monitor the 2025 presidential administration transition. Below are some helpful guidelines.

  • Closely monitor obligated budget balances to avoid deficits while awaiting future obligations. Anticipated future funding remains subject to availability of funds and should not be considered guaranteed.
  • If you are waiting to hear back from a program officer, please be aware they may not be able to respond during the agency communications pause.
  • Ensure all technical reports and deliverables are submitted by their due dates and prioritize the submission of any that are past due.
  • Monitor policy updates: Keep an eye on announcements from the federal agency overseeing your grant for any updates on funding or compliance requirements.
  • Principal investigators are encouraged to ensure that they have access to and control over datasets.
  • Continue to submit proposals. Closely monitor the funding announcement to see if the proposal criteria changes.
  • OVPRI and the Office of General Counsel ask that you forward any communications from granting agencies relating to stop work orders, modifications to existing grants, requests for attestations, and spending justification requests.

OVPRI has adopted a process to appeal the termination of contracts and grants by federal agencies (requires DuckID to log in).

Additionally, the UO continues to monitor and communicate any immigration updates, and their potential impact to our international, Dreamer, and undocumented students, faculty, and staff.

Back to Top

Recent Federal Actions

Past Federal Actions
Statements in Response to Federal Actions

Back to Top

Resources for Researchers

At this time, the Council on Government Relations (COGR) is providing the most complete guidance on how the executive orders could affect operations, including a summary of executive orders. COGR's mission is to empower an unparalleled US academic research ecosystem by advancing sound federal policies and regulations that are vital to US science and innovation leadership and our nation’s health, security, and prosperity. Request access to the COGR membership portal.

Please note this page is dynamic and information could be incomplete.

The Chronicle of Higher Education is tracking the actions of President Trump's administration that affect higher education. Chronicle of Higher Education's Trump's Agenda for Higher Ed Tracker (sign in with your DuckID to access Chronicle content)

The Chronicle is also tracking the development of an indirect costs (also known as facilities and administrative, or F&A) model. Read more about the Financial Accountability in Research (FAIR) model (requires UO VPN or account to access).

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has compiled a fiscal year (FY) 2026 research and development appropriations dashboard. It compares the White House, House, and Senate spending proposals for science and technology programs in FY 2026.

FAQs for Researchers

Back to Top

Tracking Terminations and Appeals

  • Grant terminations received: 19, totaling $1.5 million
  • Change from previous week: 0
  • Relevant agencies: NEA, NEH, NSF, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Economic Development Administration
  • Active appeals: 0
  • Terminations lifted: 13 (NIH: 11; NSF: 1; Corporation for National Community Service: 1), totaling $6.4 million

These figures are current as of 12/17.

Back to Top

Email Updates

The following message was sent to graduate students, tenure track and research faculty, department grant administrators, OVPRI centers and institutes, core facility staff, Government and Community Relations, Office of General Counsel, and OVPRI staff on Wednesday, December 17, 2025.

To begin, we share the good news that we have not received a new grant termination notice in more than a month. As such, we are removing the tracker from the top of this weekly email, but will continue to have the list on this webpage. Should we receive further notices of grant termination, we will communicate that information to the research community.

Since February of this year, we received 32 grant terminations, but thanks to the efforts of faculty, research staff, and the Office of General Counsel (OGC), 13 terminations were lifted, including 11 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants, one National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, and one Corporation for National Community Service (AmeriCorps) grant, totaling $6.42 million in awarded funds.

Though we have worked closely with the OGC to pursue appeals for the 19 remaining terminated grants—which total $1.8 million in rescinded funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, and the Economic Development Administration—we have made the determination further appeal for these grants is not feasible.

Continuing to Monitor Indirect Costs Cap Situation

As many of you are aware, the higher education community continues to be in a “waiting game” on whether the White House Office of Management and Budget will adopt the FAIR model developed by the Joint Association Group for indirect costs or instead recommend a 15% cap in a forthcoming Uniform Grant Guidance. Information is available on the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation website about how the UO currently distributes indirect costs (also known as facilities and administrative or F&A).

On December 8, NSF issued the policy notice “Implementation of Policy Changes to Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) 24-1, Supplement 1” related to the PAPPG, which documents the agency's proposal and award process, and which govern the management of grants and cooperative agreements. NSF will defer release of the 26-1 version of the PAPPG to ensure alignment with forthcoming Uniform Grant Guidance updates. NSF will issue policy revisions via supplemental Policy Notices in the interim.

Research Open Forum January 22

Please mark your calendars: Betsy Boyd, senior associate vice president for Government and Community Relations, and Val Whelan, assistant vice president for Sponsored Projects Services, will lead a research open forum on January 22 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. via Zoom: https://uoregon.zoom.us/j/91852005945

Following the open forum for research December 1, we have updated our FAQs for Researchers webpage. A UO login is required to access this page.

Final Message Until the New Year

Finally, we do not intend to send messages next week or the following, barring an urgent need to communicate with the UO research community during that time. As this tumultuous year comes to a close, we wish you happy holidays and a renewed sense of resilience in 2026.

Prior Emails

Back to Top