ISU professor advocates for more research funding

A psychology professor at Idaho State University is telling the government to increase research funding for social and behavioral science.

Being an Idahoan for the last 12 years, Dr. Maria Wong isn’t a stranger to seeing this kind of funding getting cut. However, since the Gem State already doesn’t get a lot of funding for these fields, she worries of how little the state will get next.

Wong is currently working on a project concerning adolescent’s sleep and how it correlates with risky behavior in the future. Without funding, Wong said she wouldn’t be able to get quality information, like the data she receives from the Portneuf Medical Center.

“In order to understand someone’s sleep, or the quality of sleep, you will need to look at what happens after people fall asleep,” she said. “Without (the funding), we would simply ask people about their sleep, but that’s not reliable.”

Less funding could cause a domino effect onto opportunities for graduate students looking for experience in their fields, too.

“They get paid to do the work for the project and they also get their training,” Wong said. “The assistantships pay for their tuition and they also get a stipend for carrying out the research.”

Wong recently went to Washington, D.C. to advocate for more of this kind of funding. She said she was able to meet with Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and James Risch, as well as Rep. Mike Simpson.

She said they all support her efforts.