Dear NJIT Faculty and Staff,

I would like to start by thanking the faculty, staff, and students who attended the open forum hosted by the Provost's Ad Hoc Task Force on Federal Developments on April 28, 2025. The participation and thoughtful input from attendees greatly contributed to our understanding of these complex and evolving issues. In the months ahead, I encourage each of you to continue to engage with the Task Force as we work to navigate federal developments.

As shared at the open forum, I am pleased to report that all 21 visas previously revoked for NJIT students have been fully restored. Our Office of Global Initiatives (OGI) continues to monitor these situations closely and will provide guidance to any community member impacted by visa-related matters. To contact OGI, please call 973-596-2451 or email global@njit.edu.  

Additionally, I want to bring to your attention recent actions by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Effective May 5, 2025, the NSF has implemented a standard indirect cost rate of 15% for all new grants and cooperative agreements awarded to institutions of higher education. This new policy, Policy Notice: Implementation of Standard 15% Indirect Cost Rate | NSF - National Science Foundation, has significant implications for NJIT and our research community. Further, over the past several weeks, the NSF has terminated more than 1000 awards and has halted all funding actions until further notice.

As we’ve shared previously, if you receive any specific stop-work order, grant termination, notice of indirect cost rate change on your award/proposal, or request to sign any attestation from any funding agency, please forward the notification with any attachment to the Research Office immediately to Senior Vice Provost Atam Dhawan at dhawan@njit.edu and copy Associate Vice Provost Eric Hetherington at erich@njit.edu. 

Please do not sign any document sent to you regarding any attestation, certification, or substantially similar document on any federal research grants. 

We recognize the potential difficulties these actions and proposed cuts pose to our research community. In response, NJIT has established a Stop-Gap funding policy designed to support researchers affected by these federal developments, ensuring continuity and mitigating disruptions to ongoing research activities. The full text of this policy has been distributed to Deans and Department Chairs and any faculty or lecturers impacted by grant terminations should discuss the application process with their Department Chair.

Furthermore, to acknowledge the extraordinary circumstances impacting research and academic activities, faculty seeking promotion are now encouraged to include an impact statement in their promotion dossiers detailing how these federal developments have influenced their professional work. Detailed guidance about preparing this impact statement can be found on the Provost’s webpage.

I also want to note that the President’s recently proposed federal budget for FY 2026 indicates substantial funding reductions for many agencies crucial to our research enterprise, including:

  • NSF: 55.8% reduction
  • U.S. Department of Energy: 9.4% reduction
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: 26.2% reduction
  • NASA: 24.3% reduction

While the development of the FY26 federal budget is in its early stages, we will continue to monitor these proposed changes and share additional information as it becomes available.

Thank you once again for your dedication, resilience, and commitment during these challenging times. We remain committed to supporting our entire community and will continue to keep you updated as further developments occur.

Best,

John A. Pelesko
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs