2021
Federal
Agenda

Our federal partnership

The global pandemic has made it more apparent than ever that the University of Washington is at the forefront of producing knowledge, tackling complex societal challenges and preparing all members of our local and national communities to be responsible and engaged citizens. This work is pursued by all our schools and colleges across the University. While each is making unique contributions, the totality of the UW’s contributions directly arising from federal investment is greater than the sum of the discoveries by individual colleges and schools.

Only through historic and consistent federal investment in science and scientific research could the UW and our nation begin to address the country’s wide-ranging needs throughout the pandemic. By leveraging federal, state and private dollars, the UW is developing and fostering the next generation of leaders, thinkers and doers, who are actively addressing the nation’s most complex challenges and accelerating innovation today while creating the advances, technologies and expertise of the future.

At the UW, we view the federal support as long-term investments in the development of ideas, designed to pay significant dividends on both a national and global scale — and the pandemic has proven that it has. This funding has created a well-educated and nimble workforce and led to innovative solutions to the grand challenges of our time. And always, we strive to be positive and responsible stewards of federal resources.

For years, we have been focusing our collective efforts through two specific initiatives, the Population Health Initiative and Race & Equity Initiative — and this year has shown that these two foci have been critically important and at the forefront of our social and political consciousness. As the globe struggles to overcome the pandemic, our initiatives strive to provide the answers to the tough questions that have been laid bare during this challenging time. While across our institution we have all made progress, all of us can and should work harder to do more and push further. To do so, we need additional help from the federal government. We need our government to create a welcoming and inclusive environment by action through national policies and structures that are welcoming to all citizens and global visitors.

The UW’s research and innovation have driven the Washington state and U.S. economies for decades and will serve as a catalyst for recovery from the pandemic. The return on this investment is long term and sustained. Our federal priorities for 2021 reflect a combination of our past accomplishments and a promise to continue to push the boundaries of excellence to serve our students, our state and our nation.

Federal investment in research and education

We thank Congress for its recent robust support of federal research funding and urge continued critical investments in basic and applied science in a broad spectrum of fields across all federal research-supporting agencies and directorates. The UW was proud to be awarded $1.231 billion in FY2020 in federally sponsored research.

The UW continues to view support for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as our top federal funding priority and the National Science Foundation (NSF) as our second priority. Every college and school across the UW has a grant funded by either NIH or NSF, if not both agencies. The UW received more than $661 million in FY2020 from NIH, making it our largest single federal funding source, and $125 million from NSF.

Overall, the UW received more than $784 million from the Department of Health and Human Services in FY2020, which includes funding from NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration and others.

Maintaining federal investment in research is not simply about singular monetary investments. Research programs need time, sustained resources and infrastructure support to mature and succeed. Inconsistent rules and guidance from federal agencies or funding instability — whether from continuing resolutions, one-time increases or proposed cuts — undermine the decades of progress. Instability sets up researchers, research institutions, agencies, innovation and our nation for failure.

The pandemic has caused significant disruption to the ability of researchers and labs to conduct their research. For example, understandably, travel into the field has been difficult, and labs have restricted the number of people who can access them at one time, both of which have hindered experiments. Agencies have been understanding and accommodating to keep researchers employed during the pandemic. However, as states and nations continue to enforce strong social-distancing protocols and travel prohibitions, grantees need continued flexibility in grant spending and additional funding backfill to allow final execution of their grants.

The University of Washington’s priorities for 2021

While we believe there is a strong need to protect our investment in the research enterprise, funding for research programs is not enough. In addition to support for scientific research, federal efforts that bolster resources — both financial and programmatic — for student, faculty and staff success are fundamental to our long-term national security, economic growth and prosperity. Scientific progress and societal advancement are not possible without fostering student development and talent. We strive to ensure that the UW is an inclusive, diverse and welcoming community to all its members regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, economic status, nationality or length of time at the University. Assault, harassment and discrimination have no place on our campuses or in our nation.

We must find ways to allow all talented individuals to contribute to the education and research ecosystem, and we must break down unnecessary barriers. We urge Congress to improve our international engagement abilities by reducing visa processing times for students and visiting scholars; enact permanent, positive solutions for DACA-eligible recipients and their families; affirm the Optional Practical Training program; reaffirm our ability to welcome and engage in global discourse through international students and scholars; and create an equitable and fair green-card system. In short, we ask that Congress and the new administration come together in 2021 to finally take up and pass a comprehensive immigration reform package.

The UW fully recognizes that access to federal resources and the ability to welcome individuals from around the world are a privilege and understands the associated responsibilities. We take seriously the security of the research enterprise and national security concerns. Foreign and domestic bad actors who strive to abuse or circumvent the grant and intellectual property system cannot be tolerated. The UW is working with the federal government and colleagues across higher education to be proactive in reinforcing or establishing protections and processes to educate faculty, students and staff on potential risks, promoting best practices for compliance with current federal and state disclosure requirements and protecting our mutual intellectual property and future economic opportunity. We urge Congress to instruct federal agencies that sponsor research to better collaborate, share information and develop best practices to recognize threats and protect federal and university investments in intellectual property.

Further, we urge the federal government to develop a holistic data-reporting framework that is user-friendly for institutions. Institutions of higher education are accustomed to submitting substantial volumes of data to systems such as the Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, and we agree that the integrity of our nation’s scientific enterprise warrants transparency regarding our global engagements and contracts. The current mechanism is cumbersome at best and prohibits true, usable disclosures. Rather than reveal nefarious actions, a well-designed system will, we believe, demonstrate instead how globally engaged and interconnected knowledge and the pursuit of science are today. We want to comply with sensible and reasonable requirements, and we ask that the federal government help create a usable system with clear guidance.

The UW’s Population Health Initiative

While today’s global challenges are monumental and those of the future unpredictable, the UW remains committed to defying the odds and conventional thinking to solve the problems of today and tomorrow. One area that exemplifies the UW’s unique approach to problem-solving is our 25-year Population Health Initiative. The initiative seeks to address the intersecting factors that influence the health and well-being of our planet and our global population. In classrooms, clinics and communities, the initiative takes a holistic approach by bringing together students and faculty from many disciplines to improve human health, sustain our environment and promote social and economic equity.

The initiative’s efforts are directed toward diverse yet interconnected challenges. UW researchers are analyzing challenges around community resilience to extreme nature events caused by climate change; addressing systemic food and water insecurities; reducing the rate, burden and racial disproportionality of disease; and improving health in our rapidly changing world.

Our focus on the health and well-being of our whole population has never been more obvious than in the UW’s and UW Medicine’s efforts throughout the pandemic. Seattle was our nation’s first COVID-19 epicenter, and without the committed medical professionals, researchers and staff across the UW immediately mobilizing to educate, treat and search for cures, our region and country would not have been as prepared or able to address the pandemic. Across the UW, the Husky family has risen to the challenge, from facing hard times to righting wrongs and helping to solve problems. The examples are numerous, including, but not limited to:

• UW researchers and alums engineering and creating new and mass quantities of PPE
• The UW School of Public Health partnering with the state to reduce health-care barriers for those who are older, have medical conditions or are not fluent in English
• The UW College of Education researching the impact of COVID-19 on schools, students, families and teachers
• UW Medicine producing its own COVID-19 tests to make up for the national shortage and then addressing the subsequent challenge of processing them, which they were able to do as an outpouring of UW scientists stepped up to help — from lab techs to postdocs to graduate students

Every day, we find tremendous hope in how the UW community pulls together to listen, learn, take action and improve the world. Together we are ready for whatever tomorrow might bring.

The UW’s Race & Equity Initiative

At the UW, we are unwavering in our resolve to create an inclusive, equitable and welcoming community for all. Diversity, in all its forms, is critical to advance our understanding of the world and to discover solutions that better serve society. We believe in leading by example, and the UW is putting great effort into changing our culture by recognizing overt biases and microaggressions and fostering a safe environment to report and address inappropriate or offensive behavior. These changes benefit the entire UW community. We are proud of our diversity, and we strive to create a safe and respectful place to discover, challenge the status quo and grow intellectually.

Our commitment to inclusion is not limited by borders. The nation’s ability to remain competitive and innovative is dependent on our ability to attract the best minds, regardless of origin. At the same time, the renowned excellence of American higher education is not possible without a healthy and welcoming environment for all students and scholars. The ability to innovate and remain competitive and the unparalleled quality of American higher education are inextricably linked. Access to and sharing of ideas is fundamental to the fabric of progress.

For the UW to ensure excellence and become even more innovative, it is imperative that Congress take steps to maintain the free flow of ideas, whether through robust Title VI International Education funding or by funding proven access programs like GEAR UP and TRIO. Just as importantly, we have seen over the past several years that a comprehensive overhaul of the immigration system is long overdue, as too many talented individuals, including DACA-eligible individuals, have been caught up in the current set of piecemeal rules and regulations.

Our nation needs strong H-1B visa and Optional Practical Training programs and to establish a permanent legal fix for DACA-eligible individuals and their families. As a global university, we recognize our ability to bring ideas together, bridge differences and create a more prosperous future for all.