URI Economic Impact Report - Autumn 2020

FUTURE OUTLOOK Although the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc with state budgets and is forcing significant changes across all major research institutions, the future for federal research funding remains bright at the present time. In spring

2020, Congress budgeted an additional $3.6 billion for research related to COVID-19. By summer, research laboratories at institutions across the country began to reopen, including those at URI, allowing our important work to continue (Mervis, 2020). There is no doubt that there will be peaks and troughs ahead, in terms of federal and state support for scientific research across all disciplines – and, in fact, this has always been the case. Here at URI, we have been building a research base and supporting infrastructure that is robust, impactful, and is

designed to withstand fluctuations in funding. Ultimately, the University of Rhode Island, as the state’s Land- and Sea- Grant research institution, is committed to a public trust that we share with our community: To advance knowledge through research, exploration, scholarship and creative expression, all in the service of improving our society, improving the community in which we live, and discovering new approaches to protecting environmental and human health, and global sustainability on a rapidly changing planet.

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