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From: Division of Research and Innovation

Dear OSU Community Members:

As the university communicated on Friday, university leaders and subject matter experts are working diligently to review executive actions and provide guidance to university stakeholders. This includes yesterday’s order from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directing federal agencies to temporarily pause, to the extent permitted by law, grant, loan or federal financial assistance programs that are related to recent executive orders. In response to legal challenges, a federal judge has now blocked this order until at least Feb. 3.

The U.S. Department of Education recently clarified that the OMB memo does not impact financial assistance to individual students provided under Title IV, Higher Education Act funds. However, the university is gathering information and guidance from federal agencies on immediate and potential impacts to sponsored research.

Given Oregon State’s reputation and preeminent status as an institution dedicated to advancing research of utmost importance to the state, the nation and the world, even a temporary pause on the issuance of new awards and on the disbursement of federal funds for open awards has broad impacts across the university. As we assess these impacts and receive additional federal guidance, we will provide updates on the Division of Research and Innovation website. Principal investigators and administrators are urged to contact the Division of Research and Innovation with questions prior to taking any action related to federally funded grants and to notify us immediately of any stop-work orders they receive. We can be reached at sponsored.programs@oregonstate.edu.

Given potential delays and uncertainties in federal reimbursements in sponsored research, we expect to provide additional guidance in the coming weeks to colleges, principal investigators and administrators. In the meantime, we will continue to advance sponsored research deliverables and support our research colleagues and all members of our thriving community at Oregon State. We deeply value the work that you do and all you contribute to the university’s mission.

Sincerely,

Irem Tumer, Vice President for Research and Innovation

Jennifer Creighton, Associate Vice President for Research Administration, Finance and Operations

Send Date: 
Wednesday, January 29, 2025