BOZEMAN — Science and education took center stage at Montana State University on Friday as protesters joined the Stand Up for Science initiative. The rally resisted threats to research and academic freedom.
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Roland Hatzenpichler is one of the organizers of the Stand Up for Science protest and the associate director of the Thermal Biology Institute at MSU.
“I am very happy by the turnout, looks like 200ish people here. We had no idea how many would come,” Roland says.
As protesters gather with various signs, they listen to Roland speak about securing and expanding scientific funding, ending censorship and political interference in science, and defending diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in science.
“The whole point is to bring awareness to the fact that there are severe threats to science and technology in the United States,” Roland says.
Roland tells me his opinions do not represent those of his employer, but he does say MSU research could suffer due to federal cuts.
“For example, MSU Bozeman receives 33 million dollars annually on IDC from federal grants. The current proposal is to cut this from 45% at MSU to 15% on a nationwide level. You can do the math, which means we will lose out 22 million dollars,” Roland says.
Roland says this money helps keep labs and facilities running, but also for his lab specifically.
“My lab does NIH-funded research on the human microbiome, how humans and bacteria interact with each other, and what the potential consequences for health are,” Roland says.
NIH is with the National Institutes of Health, which has been slated for cuts. He says $350,000 will cut his lab and grad students' funding. Roland says the research goes far beyond the walls of his lab.
“For every dollar that the NIH invests in research in Montana specifically, there is a return on investment of 2.24 dollars. It makes zero sense to cut that if you have a 224% return on investment,” Roland says.
