Texas Research Highlights

The University of Texas at Austin is proud to be one of the world’s leading research universities. UT’s talented researchers, scholars and creators are making discoveries and mobilizing knowledge that contribute to the betterment of humanity and enrichment of the human spirit while providing world-class learning opportunities for students.

FY2022 RESEARCH EXPENDITURES

Source: FY2022 Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey

UT Austin receives more National Science Foundation funding
than any other university in Texas and is among the
top universities nationwide for NSF-financed research.

TOP 10 RANKINGS AMONG U.S. UNIVERSITIES FOR
RESEARCH FINANCED BY FEDERAL AGENCIES

No. 5

Department of Defense

No. 7

National Science Foundation

No. 7

Department of Energy

TEXAS RESEARCH BY THE NUMBERS

State-of-the-art facilities and technologies – including the world’s most powerful supercomputers – and broad support networks help UT researchers cultivate ideas that generate impact.

In FY2022:

7,000+

peer-reviewed articles published

3,799

externally sponsored projects

199

invention disclosures filed

126

patents issued,
U.S. & foreign

705

active licenses

59

licenses executed

66

books published by
UT scholars

TEXAS FACTS & FIGURES

19,000

works at UT’s Blanton Museum of Art, one of the largest university museums in the country

200,000

new astronomical objects revealed by UT’s McDonald Observatory, with supercomputing support from TACC

1 million

books at the Harry Ransom Center, including 1 of only 21 complete original Gutenberg Bibles

20 million+

deaths prevented with COVID-19 vaccines created with technology developed by molecular biology professor Jason McLellan and his research team

60 billion

megabytes of storage available in TACC’s Frontera, the fastest supercomputer on a university campus in the U.S.

OVPR-LED INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AT UT

One of the goals of the Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship and Creative Endeavors is to encourage and enable researchers to work across academic silos to answer intriguing and important questions. Interdisciplinary collaboration lives in every college and school at The University of Texas at Austin, but these three programs are led by OVPR program directors and strategists.

Bridging Barriers Grand Challenges

UT researchers have designed and launched three grand challenges — major research initiatives that require expertise and insight from across academic disciplines. Together, they’re working to make tangible progress toward climate resiliency, reducing community health disparities, and designing values-driven artificial intelligence.

  • Planet Texas 2050 - A UT Grand Challenge
  • Whole Communities - Whole Health
  • Good Systems

Associate Professor Experimental (APX)

Introduced in 2018, APX is a design thinking and flash funding faculty retreat that gives newly tenured associate professors dedicated funds and focused time to envision new research directions with colleagues in diverse academic disciplines. Novel collaborations spring from unlikely pairings — architectural engineering and neuroscience, linguistics and journalism — during an annual three-day retreat each fall that inspires researchers to pursue interests beyond their home departments.

Newly promoted associate professors from across the Forty Acres convened for APX's inaugural workshop in 2018.

Research Interest Groups (RIGs)

Researchers know that global challenges can no longer be addressed within disciplinary silos, but many are often unaware of complementary work taking place in other departments or colleges. RIGs support collaboration among researchers from multiple fields when there are no existing groups or units on campus working on their topic. RIGs create a space where researchers can work collaboratively to create inventive solutions to pressing problems. UT has 10 RIGs, and the list continues to grow. Current interest groups include bio-inspired computing, spinal cord injuries, and space missions.

Imaging and Analysis RIG members got together for small group discussions during their symposium in 2019.

Collaboration across campus

Click on the interactive map below to see our academic connections, from the Forty Acres to TACC and the Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas.