Members of the three Pitt unions represented by the United Steelworkers gave a sober assessment last week of what federal funding cuts would mean on campus and how the continued uncertainty is affecting them and their colleagues. Representatives from the faculty, staff and graduate workers unions were at USW headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh on March 3 to share their concerns with Chris Deluzio and Summer Lee, Democratic members of Congress from Western Pennsylvania.
We also have a very important heart transplant grant that was well scored, definitely fundable, but the committee meeting was canceled.
She said she relies on the NIH indirect funding for both her training and research. We worry about whether and how and if we will be funded through the end of our degrees. We worry about whether we should continue pursuing a scientific career. We worry about whether that scientific career will exist for us once we graduate, and we worry about if we do continue to pursue this career, if it still can be in the United States.
She said she also worries about the transfer of scientific knowledge to the next generation. Any pause in admissions for graduate and Ph. Inevitably, that kind of cut would be felt everywhere at the University, he said, in across the board hiring freezes, layoffs, program closures and tuition increases. It is a big, big issue in our region, and an impact, not just for us, but all over this country.
Summer Lee said her congressional office has had an unprecedented number of calls since the Trump administration started announcing cuts. She noted that medicine and medical research have become backbones of the regional economy and that NIH supports more than 21, jobs in Pennsylvania. We know that the research that is done through this federal funding is life changing.
