New loan program helps research cores purchase shared instruments

Core facilities play an essential role in UW–Madison’s research. They provide researchers with access to cutting-edge instruments and technologies that normally would be difficult to purchase or maintain in an individual laboratory, generate preliminary data for grants, provide excellent hands-on training, and play an important role in recruiting faculty, postdocs and staff.

While fee-for-service revenue offsets some expenses, that cannot alone sustain core operating expenses including new equipment purchases and replacements. Recognizing the value cores provide and the investment that is needed to purchase state-of-the-art technology and maintain core facilities and equipment, the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration (VCFA) and Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) have partnered to launch the Research Core Equipment Loan Program to upgrade research core facilities whose equipment needs may not be competitive for grant funding.

“The loan program is an effective and sustainable strategy for bringing more research revenue to campus,” says Rob Cramer, vice chancellor for finance and administration. “Encouraging investment in cutting-edge equipment improves our ability to support industry partners, compete for talent, and attract grant funding.”

The VCFA is committing $4 million to launch the initiative.

Cynthia Czajkowski, interim vice chancellor for research says, “We are grateful for the partnership with the VCFA and the Madison Budget Office in developing a new mechanism for growing UW–Madison’s research enterprise. Our campus research cores are vital resources for researchers. We see more demand for shared equipment grants than can be met, a shortage of funding opportunities for new equipment and a need for responsiveness to emerging research needs. This program is intended to fill those gaps.”

This new strategy augments resources from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation-funded Research Core Revitalization Program, which is managed by the OVCR. In addition to supporting more shared equipment replacements and upgrades, the initiative enables purchases of equipment to address urgent research needs and keep UW–Madison researchers at the forefronts of their fields. The loan program encourages long-term financial planning, supports sound accounting practices and aligns rate setting with institutional policies.

UW–Madison research cores support research across all divisions — in the life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. More than 150 cores provide access to instruments, technologies, services, training and expert consultation.

Shared instruments, equipment and other resources play a critical role in research across the university but typically have a limited lifespan. The large upfront cost to purchase, replace or upgrade equipment can be prohibitive — even for highly used instruments.

Research core directors can request interest-free loans ranging from $20,000 to $500,000 to purchase innovative equipment, replace equipment at or beyond the end of its useful life, duplicate equipment with demand exceeding capacity or upgrade existing equipment. Cores will be required to secure at least 10% of the purchase price from other sources. The loans will be amortized over the life of the equipment with cores making annual payments. As loans are repaid, the continually replenishing loan fund will be used to issue new loans. Proposals will be accepted on an ongoing basis.

Research Core Equipment Loan Program details and application instructions are available at https://research.wisc.edu/research-cores/loan-program/.

For questions about the program, contact Ryan Pingel (rpingel@wisc.edu).