Dear Colleagues,
We are closely monitoring the changing regulatory landscape resulting from the recent Presidential Executive Orders. We are in close communication with our colleagues at other universities, higher education associations such as COGR and APLU, and our federal relations team to ensure that George Mason is responsive to changing requirements. We understand that this rapidly shifting environment may cause significant anxiety and uncertainty, and we are committed to keeping our community informed and supported.
Fewer than 20 projects have been formally suspended or terminated to date. We are communicating our process for requests to support suspended or terminated projects to all George Mason PIs to ensure that you are informed, especially if you receive a formal notice from your sponsoring agency. The university has launched an approval workflow to allow Principal Investigators (PIs) who have received notifications from sponsors that their projects have been suspended or terminated to submit requests to their deans and university leadership to provide support to bridge or wind down impacted research projects.
If you have received official notice that your project has been suspended or terminated, this process can be initiated by submitting the Research EO Response request form.
The process for requesting support is collaborative and requires PIs to work with their department chairs and/or center directors to provide information about their project and requested intervention. PIs will then submit the form to their dean for review.
The dean and any designated representatives will review the materials, working with PIs as needed, to evaluate the request and determine the best path forward.
With dean approval, the form will move to university leadership for consideration. University leadership is committed to engaging in a cost-sharing arrangement with the schools and colleges to do its best to bridge suspended projects or wind down terminated projects with minimal impact to students and personnel attached to these efforts.
A role-based guidance document is available here.
PIs who have not received official notification from sponsors about suspension or termination of their project should reach out to their Associate Dean for Research or visit the Federal Funding Updates page on the OSP website for up-to-date information.
Please continue to send any notices related to specific agency or project actions to ospaor@gmu.edu. If you have specific questions about the form, submission process, or encounter any technical issues, contact Kaithlyn Kayer (kkayer@gmu.edu) and the Office of the Provost Transformation Team will provide support.
Best regards,
James Antony, PhD
Provost and Executive Vice President
Andre Marshall, PhD
Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Economic Impact