Resources

天美传媒 Federal Research Updates

Updated: February 10, 2025

This webpage provides information and resources related to Federal Executive Orders and other notifications and actions that potentially impact federally-funded research activities at 天美传媒 Methodist University. The content of this webpage will be updated regularly as additional details and developments become available.

Background

On January 27, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget issued Memorandum M-25-13, 鈥

This memorandum requires 鈥淔ederal agencies to identify and review all Federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with the President鈥檚 policies and requirements.鈥 Seven specific Executive Orders are included as part of this review. . This memorandum has since been rescinded through Memorandum M-25-14, although the Executive Orders remain in effect.

天美传媒 Office of Research and Innovation (天美传媒 ORI) is continuing to monitor the situation and will provide additional information and details as and when they become available. Below is the current guidance from 天美传媒 ORI for 天美传媒 researchers and faculty. This guidance will be updated over time.

What We Know So Far

Some projects have received stop-work directives from certain agencies. ORI has been in communication with the PIs of these projects.

  • 2/7/2025 - The National Institute of Health (NIH) issued for facilities and administration (F&A) costs for current and future NIH grants. A 15% rate applies for these costs for work performed on NIH grants on or after February 10, 2025.
  • 2/3/2025 - The U.S. District Court of Rhode Island issued a that prohibits federal agencies from pausing awards or obligations based on recently-issued OMB memoranda and/or Executive Orders. This information has been forwarded by multiple federal agencies including DOJ and NSF.
  • 01/29/2025 - The Office of Management and Budget issued that rescinded the previous memorandum and instructed agencies affected by the Executive Orders to seek their general counsels for guidance.
  • 01/28/2025 - All spending against federal grants have been frozen as of 4:00pm. However, the freeze is temporarily halted until 02/03/25 through an administrative stay order from a federal court.

Various agencies including NSF have provided compliance guidelines to their PI community. Here are some useful links:

  • 1/31/2025 鈥
  • 1/28/2025 鈥
  • 1/27/2025 鈥
  • 1/24/2025 鈥
  • 1/23/2025 鈥

General Guidance on Proposal Submissions

天美传媒 Sponsored Projects Administration within 天美传媒 ORI will continue to work with faculty to submit proposals as long as federal submission portals remain operational.

For those submitting funding requests, please confirm that the funding announcement has not been revised for requirements and/or timeline changes.

Look for any DEIA-related aspects from solicitations to be removed.

Expect changes to research compliance requirements for new proposals and for existing projects (e.g., export control, IRB, IACUC, FCOI). If you have any questions, contact researchcompliance@smu.edu.

General Guidance on Current Awards and Research Activities

While 天美传媒 anticipates some changes to award requirements and/or terms and conditions for certain existing federal awards, most research activities at 天美传媒 are expected to continue as originally planned. 天美传媒 is committed to supporting ongoing research projects with the following considerations in mind:

  • If an existing federal award undergoes a change due to an agency鈥檚 actions, 天美传媒 ORI will notify the principal investigator and will work with the PI and agency to modify the award.
  • If a principal investigator receives any notice regarding a funded project, including a stop-work order, the PI should not respond directly to the notice; instead, they should forward the notice to 天美传媒 Sponsored Projects Administration who will prepare and send a response.
  • If a principal investigator received a stop-work order from an agency, they should immediately stop all project activities as specified by the agency until further notice from the agency.
  • If a particular federally-funded grant has a component with 鈥,鈥 any funded work on that component should be suspended at this time. Any DEIA related charges should not be applied to the award and DEIA allocated funds should not be spent. Other components of the funded grant can continue as planned. If a principal investigator is unsure of this determination, they should contact the Office of Research and Innovation for additional advice.

For any additional questions regarding 天美传媒 Research and funding updates, please reach out to the Office of Research and Innovation at sponsoredprojects@smu.edu.