WASHINGTON (SPECTRUM NEWS) — Educators from across the state took to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to discuss how federal research money benefits Wisconsin.

“It helps the institution, provides employment opportunities so theres many, many benefits to having federal funds as well as inputting back into the university,” said Dr. Sandra Hunter, Marquette University Professor of Exercise Science in the Department of Physical Therapy.

Prof. Hunter joined a panel of educators from UW-Milwaukee, UW-Madison and the Medical College of Wisconsin at an event hosted by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce to reiterate their research programs’ reliance on federal dollars.

The four schools received more than $700 million in total federal funds in 2018.

And as lawmakers fight over a new budget, this panel laid out how this support is invaluable to academia.

“Federal funding allows us to do collaborative research that you wouldn’t have if you just funded industry to do a particular project,” said Prof. Rebecca Klaper, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Prof. Klaper says that support is helps researchers solve some of the same problems folks in Congress are looking to tackle.

Like the Sen. Tammy Baldwin-backed Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act aimed at reauthorizing and increasing funds to protect resources like Lake Michigan.

“So you really need that basic research to go in hand like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative where you’re trying to put that science in practice to do something positive for the environment,” said Klaper.