Welcome to Inquiry, the research magazine for The University of Texas at Arlington. As a rapidly growing Research-1 university, we are excited to share some of the world-class work we are doing.
This year, our annual research expenditures exceeded $100 million for the first time, and we graduated over 200 PhDs for the fifth straight year. Our growth in research mirrors the overall growth at UTA—we now have over 60,000 students (on-campus and online) and awarded more than 13,700 degrees during the 2017-18 academic year.
Our research investments are closely aligned with UTA's Strategic Plan 2020: Bold Solutions | Global Impact and its four themes: Health and the Human Condition, Sustainable Urban Communities, Global Environmental Impact, and Data-Driven Discovery.
We have continued to make significant investments in the infrastructure of UTA. In September, we opened the Science & Engineering Innovation & Research (SEIR) building, a state-of-the-art facility for life and health science research that was designed with collaboration as a major goal. SEIR houses our newest center of excellence, the North Texas Genome Center, which currently has two Illumina NovaSeq 6000 high throughput sequencers for full genome sequencing services.
UTA is also investing heavily in new faculty. Over the last year, UTA hired 47 tenure or tenure-track faculty, including Florence Haseltine, a member of the National Academy of Medicine and leader in women's health, and Surendra Shah, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and expert in advanced construction cements. This class of new hires is helping us to grow a diverse and technically outstanding faculty across our eight colleges.
UTA is strongly focused on the public impact of our research and works closely with industry in our region, state, and country to transition research results into use. We had 29 U.S. and foreign patents issued last year and have already licensed several. UTA also had two faculty selected as fellows of the National Academy of Inventors, which brings our total number to 15, the most in Texas.
As you read Inquiry, I hope you come to better understand the depth and breadth of research at UTA. We are committed to providing an environment where our researchers can thrive and make discoveries that push forward the frontiers of knowledge, while developing the research talent needed for the future. I hope you stay connected with us as we work to change the world.
Go Mavericks,
Duane B. Dimos
Vice President for Research
