STATE UNIVERSITIES LOSING GRANT FUNDS

Ohio uni­ver­si­ties expect­ing decreased research fund­ing in the wake of the auto­matic fed­eral bud­get cuts that took place this month are try­ing to pre­pare for those cuts and find alter­na­tives to replace the money.

Thou­sands of sci­en­tists at uni­ver­si­ties across Ohio face the threat to their research fund­ing, and that has prompted uni­ver­sity offi­cials to search for new investors.

Uni­ver­sity of Cincin­nati research fund­ing dropped from $443 mil­lion in 2010 to $404 mil­lion last year as a result, and the auto­matic fed­eral spend­ing cuts could elim­i­nate an addi­tional $17 mil­lion over the next few years.

Ohio State reported $934 mil­lion in research spend­ing in 2012, a $102 mil­lion increase over 2011.