Updates on Federal Executive Orders and Research Activities

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

Last updated November 13, 2025

 

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.

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Recent Federal Actions

Past Federal Actions
Statements in Response to Federal Actions

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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

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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, November 12.

Tracking Terminations and Appeals

  • Grant terminations received: 20, totaling $1.8 million
  • Change from previous week: 0
  • Relevant agencies: NEA, NEH, NSF, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Economic Development Administration
  • Active appeals: 15
  • Terminations lifted: 12 (NIH: 11; NSF: 1), totaling $6.2 million

These figures are current as of 11/12.

Please attend research open forum Dec. 1, resilience funding available

As I step into the role of interim vice president for research and innovation, I want to begin this weekly message by stating how pleased I’ve been by the level of communication coming from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation (OVPRI) during these times of uncertainty. This message will continue. You may have noticed that the message has not appeared every week in the past month; that is intentional—if there’s nothing new to report, there’s no need to clutter inboxes. However, there is news to share this week.

Government Shutdown

On Sunday, eight members of the Senate Democratic Caucus voted with Republicans to advance a bill to reopen the government. The US House may take up the vote as early as today, but as of this writing, the federal government remains shut down.

We expect changes on the horizon for higher education, particularly to the facilities and administration (F&A) rate, also known as indirect costs. F&A costs are reimbursements for expenses that are incurred for common or joint objectives necessary to conduct research, scholarship, and creative work. You can read more about the UO’s current F&A rates on the OVPRI website.

Earlier this year, the Trump Administration attempted to impose a 15% F&A rate cap at multiple agencies, including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense. Lawsuits filed by advocacy partners like the Association of American Universities and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities were successful in stopping these rate changes, which are currently negotiated by universities directly with the federal government.

Acknowledging that the F&A reimbursement process has room for improvement—without the imposition of a financially unfeasible rate of just 15%—the Joint Associations Group has developed the Financial Accountability in Research (FAIR) Model. While this model allows universities to recoup more than 15% in F&A, it will be a fundamental shift in how we organize and budget for our research administrative costs across our campuses.

December 1 Open Forum for Research

OVPRI will host a hybrid-format open forum on December 1 from 10:00–11:30 a.m. in the Crater Lake rooms in the EMU. A remote option will be available via Zoom. Please RSVP by Monday, November 17.

In addition to updates on the federal situation, including a discussion on our planning efforts related to F&A and the FAIR model, I will introduce OVPRI’s new strategic plan. I hope you will join us for the formal program, as well as coffee and informal conversation with members of the university research community.

Research Resilience Funding Available

As a reminder, the UO’s Research Resilience Committee established three funding support programs. The bridge funding and grant termination support programs have rolling deadlines; the critical UO investments and priorities support program has been paused during the government shutdown. A new deadline for that program will be announced soon. The Research Development Services (RDS) team is happy to consult on proposals for these programs. Contact them by emailing rds@uoregon.edu.

Prior Emails

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