The University of California could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants if automatic federal budget cuts occur through sequestration.
UC receives $3 billion in federal research grants every year. The money comes through the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and other agencies, all of which face cuts.
UC's Gary Falle said sequestration could cost scientists, researchers, graduate students and post-doctoral students their jobs.
"It's really hard to calculate the exact dollar amount of those impacts and where they are going to be because those agencies will have some discretion with regard to how they come up with the reductions," said Falle.
UC has already had to deal with fewer and smaller federal research awards. The total dollar amount was down 25 percent this year. Falle says 1,000 biotech and high-tech companies in California use UC research.
