From investigating bird population dynamics to the study of plant-microbe interactions, there are dozens of research laboratories at the University of Utah that conduct research related to the environment, sustainability and climate change. At times, these labs face difficulties securing funding or offering meaningful research opportunities to undergraduates.

Included in these environmental research labs at the U is Biology Professor Cagan Sekercioglu’s ornithology and conservation ecology lab.

“We study bird population dynamics, but also large mammal carnivores in Eastern Turkey, brown bears, wolves and lynx,” Sekercioglu said. “We study their ecology, conservation biology and population biology.”

Another lab at the U that conducts research related to the environment is Biology Professor Talia Karasov’s lab.

“I study plant microbe interactions and plant pathogen interactions, somewhere at the intersection between genetics and ecology,” Karasov said. “We try to understand how plants defend themselves against pathogens and how we can encourage agricultural practices that are more sustainable with respect to microbiota.” 

Despite the varied nature of Sekercioglu and Karasov’s research, both investigate topics related to the health of the planet. As the principal investigators of their labs, both are also largely responsible for obtaining funding.  

Researchers are provided with base funding when they come to the U, but much of the burden for funding research rests on the shoulders of faculty themselves. 

“A lot of people think if you’re at a university, the university gives you money for research — it’s actually not the case,” Sekercioglu said. “Increasingly, universities expect the faculty to bring money to the university.” 

Sekerocioglu said despite how it may appear, searching for funding requires constant effort on the part of the faculty in charge of a lab, comparing it to “ducks paddling underwater … you see them glide smoothly over the surface, but they’re furiously paddling below.” 

“You could see a lab running smoothly, data being collected, students, you know, getting involved,” Sekerciogu said. “But underneath the surface, the faculty, the professor, the PI of the lab is constantly writing grant proposals, grant reports and constantly trying to get funding to support them.” 

Although applying for funding through federal agencies is a process that every laboratory has to go through, it can be difficult when the type of research being conducted is less widely regarded as important or when there are fewer grants available for a certain type of research. 

“Federal grants are very competitive,” Sekercioglu said.

Research grants can be applied for and obtained through organizations such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

“The places where I applied for funding are the NSF, the USDA, and then I can sometimes access NIH funding, but it’s harder to get NIH funding when you do plant research,” Karasov said.

For environmental research to be carried out properly, many people often need to be employed to complete field work over the necessary period of time. 

“NSF grants for example, just usually cannot support large teams,” Karasov said. “And so if you want to have large teams, you need to have many grants.”

Karasov suggested that sometimes it can be difficult to obtain enough grants for environmental research because environmental science is not viewed as important to human health.

“Even if you only care about human health, which is not true for a lot of people, and it’s not true for myself, but even if that’s all you care about, I think we need to up the funding for environmental research,” Karasov said. “There needs to be more grants and bigger grants and more support of a diversity of labs.”

Although environmental research may be less directly involved in human health, many aspects of this kind of research end up being essential to human health and survival. For example, many environmental research labs at the U connect their research to how climate change is progressing, an ever-growing problem with a multitude of connections to human health.

In addition to an increase in funding for research, Sekercioglu emphasized the need for more opportunities to be provided for undergraduate students to participate in research firsthand.

“Things are always getting more competitive, so undergrads should definitely be involved,” Sekercioglu said. “Even if they don’t plan to go to grad school. They should understand how science works.” 

Looking to the future, Sekercioglu hopes more undergraduate students receive this opportunity. 

“It would be good for [the U] to provide more resources for undergrad research and with our current Dean of Science Peter Trapa this is happening,” Sekercioglu said. “It’s very exciting.”

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