The lives of the mice used for scientific research at Georgetown may be short and often painful, but, thanks to the federal government, they’re about to get a little nicer. $500,000 nicer, actually.
That’s the amount that Georgetown received for rodent barrier facilities, which keep lab rats free from unwanted germs that can corrupt experiments, from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the federal stimulus package passed in the first month of the Obama administration. Georgetown has received $5.5 million from the stimulus so far, according to Recovery.gov, a government website that tracks stimulus spending.
The stimulus funding includes almost $900,000 for Pell Grants, which help low-income students pay for higher education, and an additional $793,000 for the Federal Work Study Program. The Recovery Act contributed around 30 percent of the total Pell Grant funding that Georgetown received from the federal government in fiscal year 2009.
Georgetown professors got a chunk of stimulus money too, which will be paid through the end of the summer and total $3.32 million. Roughly 175 professors at the Medical Center and 27 professors from the main campus applied for funding through the National Institute of Health, which received $8.2 billion to dole out for medical research. Many of these proposals are still pending.
“There was a concerted effort on campus to go out and seek this money,” Scott Fleming, the Associate Vice President for Federal Relations, said. “We also know that it’s very, very competitive.”
Fourteen research projects have received funding so far, ranging from one seeking to improve communication between doctors and trauma patients to another that will develop software for image-guided surgeries.
Some of the funding supplemented pre-existing projects. With the $30,700 that he received from the Recovery Act, Professor Steven Singer, the chair of the Biology Department, was able to employ two undergraduates this summer to help him study a parasite common in rivers and lakes that can cause severe diarrhea and will employ two next summer as well.
For others, like chemistry Professor Richard Weiss, who was turned down when he first applied a year and a half ago for funding from the National Science Foundation, the stimulus money is going towards projects that previously failed to find financial support. Encouraged to reapply this year, Weiss received a three-year grant of $1.1 million of stimulus funding.
The Office of Federal Relations was also active in lobbying Congress to include funding for research and financial aid in the stimulus package, though Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), the District’s only representative, has limited voting rights in the House.
“You deal with the cards you’re dealt,” Fleming said, adding that Georgetown had worked closely with Norton’s office and with members of Congress and Senators who attended Georgetown or have a relationship with the University.
According to Singer, Fleming also helped keep professors informed of what funding was likely to be included in the bill before it was finalized, giving them a longer period of time to prepare their proposals.
When it comes to receiving stimulus money, Georgetown has fared slightly better than neighboring universities. George Washington and Howard have received $4 million each from the Recovery Act, and American University, which doesn’t have a medical school, has been paid $2.8 million. In total, Georgetown received $66 million from the federal government in fiscal year 2009.
In addition to specific research projects, Georgetown submitted a proposal to the National Institute of Standards and Technology for $10 million to $15 million to go toward building the new science center, a project which has lain dormant since last spring when the University suspended construction, leaving a stretch of barren land in front of the new MSB building. The proposal, which was due on August 10, was one of the last proposals for stimulus money that Georgetown submitted.
“Now we’re in the wait-and-see mode,” Fleming said.
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