Update on restoration of federal research funding

Dear colleagues:

We are pleased to share encouraging news following the November 28 announcement from Interim President Henry Bienen about Northwestern’s agreement with the federal government to restore research funding.

While many federal agencies support Northwestern research, two of the most prominent are the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense (DoD). Awards from both were affected during our funding freeze. Below are updates on awards from these agencies.

• NIH reimbursements have been unfrozen and we are now being paid. We can therefore lift all spending restrictions on previously frozen NIH awards and begin processing subcontracts, as detailed in Friday’s message to NIH-funded investigators.
• This week, DoD began reversing stop-work orders on some of our awards. Awards with reversed stop-work orders can proceed without spending restrictions. Based on information from our peers, our DoD portfolio may require additional time to be fully restored, and we expect impacted awards to be handled separately by each DoD funding agency. Therefore, DoD awards for which stop-work orders have not been reversed
  remain subject to the interim guidance.

This situation is evolving, and we will keep you updated on developments in the coming days as we work with you to restore full operation on all NIH and DoD grants.

What you should do now:

If you have information or questions about the status of your awards or need guidance on next steps, please contact your department research administrator or reach out to Sponsored Research. Please also see the FAQs released last week, which will continue to be updated as this situation evolves.

Thank you for your partnership, resilience, and dedication throughout this challenging year.
Your efforts embody the best of Northwestern.

Mandy Distel
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Eric Perreault
Vice President for Research