The Trump Administration’s decision to roll back federal spending on science and medical studies has affected many U.S. research institutions, but the impact on Durham-based Research Triangle Institute “is in a category of its own,” according to a new study.
In the administration’s first seven months, RTI received notice that 57 research grants and 52 contracts were terminated, according to the study by Harris Search Associates, a Columbus, Ohio-based executive search and consulting firm that specializes in higher education. No other institution had more than eight cancellations.
Harris studied the effects of cancellations at 76 members of the Association of Independent Research Institutes, which include St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle and the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego. Each suffered from one to eight grant terminations in a process led by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which the Trump Administration directed to ferret out waste and fraud.
RTI had grant and contract terminations totaling $1.2 billion according to DOGE data, the study notes.
Overall, DOGE’s online database shows 18 members of the research institution trade group had experienced at least one federal grant or contract termination, with overall savings of $1.65 billion. RTI accounted for more than two-thirds of that total, the report notes.
The accuracy of DOGE’s statistics has been challenged by many groups, which contend that savings from cuts are exaggerated. But the real-world impact on RTI is clear.
“Since its creation back in the late 1950s as an anchor to Research Triangle Park, RTI was buoyed by this narrative that science and logic and a can-do spirit can solve vexing problems here and abroad,” says Jon Schwantes, a Harris senior consultant who worked on the study. “But they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
RTI celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2023 with more than 6,000 employees in 90-plus countries, including about 2,000 in the Triangle. The contract terminations have prompted three rounds of layoffs, affecting more than a third of its workforce, the report notes.
The key factor is that RTI hitched its wagon to the US Agency for International Development, or USAID, receiving $2.3 billion between 2013-22, ranking sixth among all agency grantees, Schwantes says. RTI received $219 million from USAID in 2024, more than any other group except for Catholic Relief Services and Durham-based FHI 360, formerly called Family Health International, Harris said in its report.
But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump suspended all foreign aid for 90 days, and showed particular rancor toward USAID, which was formed in 1961 in the Kennedy Administration.
Beyond its reliance on USAID, RTI’s other challenge was its involvement in many programs that could be perceived as “woke,” Schwantes says. Those include projects involving gun violence, tobacco usage, environmental justice, carbon capture and many other topics. The largest RTI grant detailed by DOGE was a $95 million grant to “identify and support underserved communities in desperate need of environmental assistance,” the report notes.
Harris didn’t have an agenda in producing the report, Schwates says. “Our intent is to bring clarity to a subject that has not received the kind of attention it deserves.”
RTI CEO Tim Gabel has said the group is working to diversify its portfolio, including more projects in healthcare and defense.
Here’s a link to the Harris report.
David Mildenberg is editor of Business North Carolina. Reach him at dmildenberg@businessnc.com.