Last week, Peter Goldsmith, the executive director of the Soybean Innovation Lab, announced the lab will shut down in April as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) terminated its funding. Thirty soybean experts working in the local lab were let go last Friday.

“U.S. soybean farmers lose one of their best tools to expand their markets and U.S. standards globally,” Goldsmith said on his LinkedIn account. “Local economies in emerging markets lose soybean as an incomparable engine (of) growing wealth, prosperity, and economic development.”

The lab was to receive $2 million a year over five years starting in 2022 from USAID’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative to advance soybean development in Africa. The program also was involved with other universities like the University of Missouri.

The lab was only one of many projects at the University of Illinois and other institutions across the country that are under threat of termination or severe reduction under President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an effort being led by billionaire Elon Musk.

CU-CitizenAccess has reached out to University officials and will update this story as soon as possible.

Indeed, the UI system received over $1.5 billion in federal funding in fiscal year 2023, which ended June 30, 2023. About $748 million supported Illinois research and development programs — including $2.3 million from USAID — and $613 million for student financial aid, according to a federal audit submitted to the government last year.

The audit breaks down all federal expenditures by agency and grant type. Awards are typically shown with a program name and amount. For example, $63.4 million was awarded to the UI system under a federal computer and information science and engineering program.

About $118 million was distributed in fiscal year 2024 to other universities through pass-through awards, which allow recipients to transfer funds to other agencies or groups depending on the original award terms.

More recent data from the university’s sponsored programs website shows over $615 million in grants came to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign last fiscal year. The data breaks down the university’s grant funding by unit and presents both direct and indirect costs.

In addition to proposed outright cuts, the National Institutes of Health, which awarded the Urbana campus over $75 million in 2024, announced on Feb. 7 it was drastically cutting funding for costs unrelated to direct research by capping indirect costs at 15%. It said the average negotiated indirect cost rate was about 28%, but some had rates as high as 50% or 60%.

Indirect costs, also called overhead, apply to things like the cost of research labs such as computers and equipment, administrative duties, and grant and patent application expenses.

The university projects it will lose about $48.6 million in indirect cost funding if the 15% cap was applied to all federal agencies’ grants, according to the recently released data.

For a research institution dependent on federal programs as the major sponsor, the federal funding freeze also triggered concerns despite a federal judge stopping the freeze and the administration rescinding the cuts. However, federal grantees have reported some funds are still frozen. 

President Trump issued an executive order to temporarily pause all federal grants, loans and aid on Jan. 27. The memo, sent by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), required all funding recipients to review their use of the funds to ensure compliance with the President’s policies.

The memo identified federal spending in several areas as a “waste of taxpayer dollars,” including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), policies that address climate change and nongovernmental organization aids.

The move sparked widespread confusion, and the administration later clarified that Medicare, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, Pell Grants and federal student loans would not be impacted. OMB communications did not address concerns over pausing research funding. 

According to the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, the Grainger College of Engineering secures the greatest amount of the federal funding among units on the Urbana-Champaign campus. In FY 2024, over $154 million was awarded to Grainger for direct costs, consisting of $55 million from the Department of Defense and $42 million from the National Science Foundation. 

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences received $68 million and $61 million in direct federal funding respectively last year. 

On Jan. 28, U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan issued a temporary restraining order to pause the directive. However, despite President Trump rescinding the memo less than 48 hours later on Jan. 29, agencies and programs such as Head Start report they are still unable to access billions of dollars in funding. 

According to the Chicago campus’ update on federal research agency policy changes, federal agencies including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Justice and Department of Labor have notified the University that the prior suspension over funding were terminated due to the temporary restraining order. 

The torrent of executive orders and policy changes since President Trump began his second term means University leaders are trying to adapt quickly. 

On Jan. 29, UI System President Tim Killeen said his administration was working with elected leaders to navigate the funding changes. 

“We will continue to communicate with you as we gain clarity and, as we do learn more, we will make recommendations about how to proceed in ways that are both consistent with the law and our values,” Killeen said. 

On Feb. 5, Chancellor Robert Jones said in a Massmail that the Chancellor’s office has assembled a Federal Updates Steering Group and launched a new federal updates website to understand and address the impacts of federal policies. The steering group will focus on immigration, expanding access, research funding and the impact on the University workforce.  

“Our overriding goals will be transparency and compassion as we navigate these important issues together,” Chancellor Jones’s statement read.