Casey said he was optimistic that the federal grants, which may also be distributed via a peer-based review system, would help to make universities more central in combating bioterrorism.

“A longer term view might be that schools of public health are now becoming a much brighter focal point because of treatment of diseases and first response training,” he said.

The legislation may also be a sign that universities, perceived to be a safety risk in the wake of Sept. 11, are now being seen as assets in the fight against terrorism.

“The universities have been quite cooperative when it comes to working with the administration to balance the needs of researchers with the needs of homeland security,” said Kathryn Harrington, spokesperson for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

April Burke, a lobbyist for the California Institute of Technology and the University of Southern California, said splitting up the $2 billion among universities will also require deciding what kinds of projects to fund first.

“In the world of issues addressed by the new department, I think the most important thing is sifting through in some kind of triage and taking the most threatening issues first,” she said.