LETTER: Research funding is essential to our future; don’t cut it now

To Ozaukee Press:

I grew up in Ozaukee County and learned that the people of Wisconsin value  practical wisdom and long-term thinking. Now I work as a soil and marine microbiologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. 

You might wonder what desert microbes have to do with Wisconsin. The answer is everything. I study microbes in arid environments that survive extreme, sporadic rainfall—knowledge that could help Wisconsin agriculture adapt as our climate becomes less predictable. There are as many microbes in a tablespoon of soil as there are people on Earth, and our local farmers don’t need me to tell them that soil microbes are crucial for productive crops.

But what they might not know is that the microbes I study could hold keys to helping Wisconsin agriculture weather increasingly erratic weather patterns.

As rainfall becomes more sporadic and extreme—alternating between drought and flooding—understanding how microbes survive and thrive in water-stressed conditions becomes critical knowledge for developing soil treatments and agricultural practices.

This research only happens with sustained federal funding. Private companies focus on products they can sell within a few years, but universities need long-term support to tackle complex questions that might take decades to answer fully. When Congress funds the National Science Foundation and Department of Agriculture, our country invests in discoveries no single company or state could afford to pursue alone. The GPS guiding tractors, weather forecasting that helps farmers plan and drought-resistant crop varieties all emerged from federally funded research.

My own journey from Ozaukee County to university professor was made possible by federal investments in education and research—from my UW-Milwaukee education to graduate fellowships and research grants that treat scientific inquiry as a public good.

When federal research funding gets cut, we don’t just lose abstract knowledge—we lose our ability to solve tomorrow’s problems with today’s investments. Other countries, particularly China, are dramatically increasing their research spending while we debate whether science is worth funding. This isn’t just about national competitiveness; it’s about whether  Wisconsin and other midwestern states  will have the tools they need to adapt and thrive.

I urge readers to contact their representatives, regardless of which side of the political spectrum they fall on. Tell them federal research funding isn’t wasteful spending—it’s essential infrastructure for Wisconsin’s economic and environmental future. 

Paul Carini

Tucson, Ariz.