The $787 billion stimulus package that the U.S. Congress passed Feb. 13 includes federal funds that could benefit Brandeis in the areas of financial aid and scientific research, according to Provost Mary Krauss and Dean of Financial Services Peter Giumette.The stimulus bill, which is intended to create jobs and induce a widespread economic recovery, includes $29 billion toward health, science and research, of which $10 billion goes to the National Institutes of Health for research and facilities. The bill also provides $106 billion for education and job training, which includes extra funding for programs such as Pell Grants, which go to students with high financial need and higher education tax credits that provide tax relief for families to pay education costs.

The stimulus legislation increases the maximum Pell Grant from $4,850 to $5,350. Giumette explained that Pell Grants are limited to students of high need and are received by about 15 percent of undergraduates. "Not only did they increase the annual amount [of Pell Grants], they also increased the number of awards one student could receive in a single academic year, ... so that's helpful for students who might be considering summer sessions at Brandeis." He explained that this change would not have a large effect on the plans for a Justice Brandeis Semester because it is only one source of federal funding. Other kinds of financial aid such as the Stafford Loan still have an annual maximum that most students use up in the spring or fall.

In past years, Pell Grants have not kept pace with the increased cost of education, representing an ever-smaller portion of the overall cost in the past several years, Giumette said.

The tax credits would help families pay for college costs because they allow them to save money in federal taxes, Giumette explained. "It's fairly minor compared to the overall cost. . I'd rather have had the money allocated to federal aid programs than given as a tax credit."

In order to organize faculty efforts to receive funding from the NIH and the National Science Foundation, Krauss said that she established the Stimulus Coordinating Committee Feb. 17. She said, "The meeting of 12 faculty from the sciences and [the] Heller [School for Social Policy and Management] was organized within 24 hours as faculty began learning the details of the stimulus package." Krauss said the meeting was an effort to encourage faculty to start preparing. "It doesn't take much to organize this faculty when they see opportunities," Krauss said.

Prof. Greg Petsko (CHEM) said that possible uses of the stimulus funds in the sciences at Brandeis could be a renovation of the third floor of Bassine and of Edison-Lecks as well as some construction associated with Phase 2 of the science complex project. "I think this is a tremendous opportunity, particularly coming as it does at [a] time when the University's own finances are in difficulty," Petsko said.

Prof. Eve Marder (BIOL) explained that the NIH intended to create more jobs through funding for renovations, equipment and research. The $1 billion will be available for University building and renovation funds, she said. "The point of that is the construction projects create jobs, and then they are also thinking that some of those same institutions will be building labs that then will be creating jobs in the long term" when faculty members hire technicians, post doctorate or graduate students. "The other big piece of it is direct grants to researchers," she explained, which come in the form of large equipment grants and research grants. "Virtually every big piece of equipment in the sciences on campus was funded by an equipment grant from the government," Marder said, explaining that the money is going toward grants, among other things.

Marder explained that the University receives an extra portion of funding from the government in addition to money that goes directly to the researcher to pay for supplies, technicians, graduate students and post doctorate students and "For every million dollars that goes directly to the investigator, there's [about] $550,000 that goes in indirect costs to the University" as an additional fixed percentage of the direct cost. Those funds can go toward infrastructure, she explained. "The reason the government does this is because it acknowledges that it's a real cost of doing the research to provide the facilities and the light and the heat that that allows the work to happen." "Anybody who can get additional grant dollars . is helping the University by bringing in additional [revenue]," she said.

Many of the research grants could benefit previously submitted projects that were well-reviewed by the NIH and NSF but for which there was previously no government funding available, a number of faculty said.

In the social sciences, Prof. Constance Horgan (Heller) and Prof. Deborah Garnick (Heller) also hope to receive funding for two previously submitted proposals analyzing managed care programs and the treatment of substance abuse.