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.
researchers
and units
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.
researchers
and units
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.
researchers
and units
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.
