Dr. Zeb Hogan is one of the many USAID-funded researchers who have had to quickly find alternative ways to receive funding in the wake of immediate terminations in their USAID grant, losing millions of dollars in funding. Dr. Hogan has been working at the University of Nevada, Reno for about 20 years as a research professor. He focuses primarily on fish ecology and aquatic biodiversity through the biology department and later founded with Dr. Sudeep Chandra the Wonders of the Mekong Project.
This project has been an accumulation of almost eight years working alongside National Geographic and Cambodian researchers, but the future of this collaboration is uncertain since a daunting federal notice issued in late January. Dr. Hogan and many other UNR researchers received abrupt and unforeseen notifications that their funding had been temporarily paused across various different federal funding programs, some feeling the effects at a faster rate than others.
The Wonders of the Mekong team in February of 2022, showcasing the sponsors that have contributed to their research, including USAID. Photo courtesy of Dr. Zeb Hogan
Research programs all across the country suffered a loss of billions of dollars over the last few months in response to several federal agencies imposing immediate funding cuts to all current and future grant-holding projects. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and many medical research projects have lost over $2 billion since the start of 2025. Global conservation programs funded through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have lost upwards of $75 billion in the last few months. Its immediate effects have been felt nationwide, including top research projects sponsored here at the University of Nevada, Reno.
“[UNR] internal analysis shows that the impacted projects total $35 million in awarded funds,” a University of Nevada, Reno spokesperson said earlier this month. “Of which $12 million had already been expended when projects were halted. The resulting financial loss is approximately $23 million…As of April 20, 2025, a total of 18 sponsored projects from USAID, HHS…NEH and NSF have been terminated.”
In response to these pauses in funding and current loss of federal support, researchers and scientists alike have filed lawsuits, but for now much remains in limbo and very much on hold, or in a scrambling pattern with alternative stop gap funding.
Since 2017, Dr. Hogan has co-led the Wonders of the Mekong Project with Dr. Chandra. This project served as a collaboration with universities in the Mekong region to explore and research the ecosystem in the Mekong river. In 2024, the project received a five year funding extension with an additional $20 million in efforts to expand the project in Southeast Asia.
“Up until recently, [the Mekong Project] was funded by the US Agency for International Development…we were very excited to help establish its role as a leader in the world in this type of work,” Dr. Hogan explained. “And so we were disappointed in late January when we received a notice that we needed to pause activities and spending. About a month after that, we received notification that our funding was terminated.”
Since then, Dr. Hogan and his team have looked towards the university for additional support. As of now, they were provided bridge funding for three months through the University of Nevada’s Global Water Center along with receiving private donations for the next year as the project works to find more long-term funding. They are not the only ones facing the blows from the loss of federal funding through USAID; around 86% of awards to projects have been terminated—a loss of nearly $30 billion in USAID funding nationwide.
“We launched a new center for aquatic sustainability in Cambodia the week before we found out that the project was going to be terminated,” Dr. Hogan said. “We’ve raised funds now through private donations to continue in a scaled-down version of the project for the next year or so… So essentially, we have a short term plan.”
News articles published on the Wonders of the Mekong Project displayed outside of Dr. Hogan’s and Dr. Chandrea’s lab, one of the articles, is showcasing their National Geographic documentary, “Monster Fish,” which Dr. Hogan has been the host since 2003. Photo by Samantha Wagner
Currently, their top priority is to provide continued support to the Ph.D. students conducting research through the Mekong Project.
“These types of activities I think are very important to maintain our relationships with other countries to maintain our position in the world as a leader,” Dr. Hogan said. “We’ve been working with these vulnerable fisheries and critically endangered species, and with the loss of funding, these are species that could go extinct within the next 10 years or so… we want to make sure that they don’t disappear forever.”
For some researchers at UNR, cuts came just as programs were gaining early momentum, creating nerve wracking uncertainties.
Dr. Baker Perry, a professor of climatology in the department of geology, outside of his office in the Mackay Science building. Photo by Samantha Wagner
Dr. Baker Perry is a climatologist and professor at UNR who recently set up several weather stations in South America earlier this year, as part of what is known as Project Wayra. Some weather stations have been established in the mountain range of Aconcagua in Argentina, while there are also water towers associated with this project on Mount Everest in Nepal. Dr. Perry, along with his team, initiated their first exhibition in February of this year, installing five weather stations that will analyze hydrological cycles, weather patterns, and the snowpack levels in the Andes Centrales, a region with a fast-changing high-altitude environment.
This project was initially being funded by the Department of State, and just three days before leaving for Aconcagua earlier this February, Dr. Perry received the notice that all federal funding through this agency had been frozen for the project. The problem was that 90% of the grant was already used prior to the announcement, which was roughly $90,000.
“We had $150,000 in addition came from American meteorological companies and we had some support from the National Geographic Society and UNR,” Dr. Perry said. “So I estimate probably the whole project was easily $350,000 to $400,000 and so the Department of State grant was only a part of that.”
The team had decided to proceed with the project and hoped for the best whether or not they would get reimbursed for the last 10% of the grant once they came back from Argentina. Luckily, the funding freeze was lifted soon after their arrival back to the United States. Unsure how reliable federally-sourced grants can be, the team have looked for alternative ways to fund their research, including finding support through the National Geographic Society.
Dr. Perry expects many other research programs to seek out diverse ways to receive grants and funding in response to the outbreak of federal funding cuts, and he is confident that the project will continue to transpire over the next few months despite the temporary setback, which is more than what many can say at the moment.
”Most of us, we understand that this is a setback, but this is not going to last forever,” Dr. Perry said. “It is important that we stay engaged with the institutions, the universities that are really pushing back. We have to continue to do the work that we do and advocate for science and for this work. I think the pendulum will swing back in time.”
As for the Wonders of the Mekong Project, Dr. Hogan is still trying to find more alternative funding plans that will support their students long term.
They had initially planned to pivot to apply for grants through the National Science Foundation, but as of May 2nd, that budget had been cut by 50%.
For now, the team will continue to put the student researchers first and will seek to support them in completing their Ph.D.s, with or without the funding from USAID, while waiting and hoping for the pendulum to swing back into a much better U.S. environment for research funding.
Reporting by Samantha Wagner shared with Our Town Reno