THE ECONOMY OF RESEARCH JAMES SIEDOW

Pledging in his inaugural address to "restore science to its rightful place," President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law in February, allocating $10.4 billion to the National Institutes of Health and $3 billion to the National Science Foundation.

It follows years of stagnant research budgets at the NIH, the NSF, the Department of Energy and other agencies, and despair at major research universities like Duke, which rely on the agencies to underwrite research faculty and laboratory infrastructure. The truth is that without funding, research cannot go on, says Vice Provost for Research James Siedow. So as unemployment rates, storefronts and conversations serve as daily reminders of the downtrodden state of the economy, researchers are ever hopeful that pumping funds into labs and infrastructure will rejuvenate American science and create lasting jobs.

Siedow has held his post for eight years, but the past six months have been especially busy, he says with a chuckle. Months ago, as the University was first preparing for the stimulus bill, details of the NIH and the NSF's distribution plans were just beginning to emerge. Unsure of how the stimulus's effects would unfold in universities, administrators were quick to dampen soaring hopes for research funding. The message from the University is that the stimulus bill has never been implemented before and the future cannot be predicted, Siedow said during an interview in March. "There's some uncertainty in what the cliff's going to look like, how big it will be, whether it will be steep or a sloping road. It's just not certain how the money's going to play out." Put simply, don't believe it until you see it.

Now, months later, grant proposals are being submitted by the hundreds and funding is starting to roll into the Office of Research Support. From the looks of it, Duke is in "pretty good standing," Siedow says. Seven hundred proposals have been submitted to the NIH and the NSF, and more will be in as this issue goes to press. In addition, The Office of Human Resources has received more than 1,600 applications for jobs that will open up for new ARRA-funded projects.

And then comes a flurry of more work, Siedow says. After funds have been distributed, the ARRA response team must seek approval for human and animal subjects protocol and report spending and research progress quarterly, not annually as is usual. It's all hard work, but he hopes the effort will pay off. "Basically, there's a lot of money in play right now," he says. "And there has never been a better time in the last 20 years to apply for funding."

But although he seems confident about being able to secure a slice of the funds, Siedow is quick to downplay expectations. Even amid celebrations over renewed federal investment and accepted grant proposals, weighty questions about long-term support loom. Months ago, Siedow warned, "Don't expect these funds to remain. Researchers shouldn't become absolutely dependent on that money to keep the lights on."

Siedow, like so many, is still grasping for a pulse on the economy to get a better idea of the post-stimulus trajectory of funding agency budgets. For now, Duke researchers are scrambling to submit grant proposals while funds are flowing, and so far, they have "absolutely stepped up to the plate," Siedow says. "They deserve so much credit.... We really have a faculty that proves its willingness to seek funding for the University."