Welcome to the inaugural issue of UTSA Discovery magazine. This annual publication was created to share news about the exciting research and
creative endeavors being conducted at The University of Texas at San Antonio.
As the fifth-largest public university in Texas, and the fastest-growing university in the state, UTSA is on a rocket ride to become the next premier public research university in Texas and to be among the top-100 in the nation.
At UTSA, we are undergoing a transformation. Over the past several years, we have
embraced our research mission by increasing
our doctoral programs to 20 and hiring world-class faculty to work alongside both undergraduate and graduate students to explore problems and create solutions. We have strengthened our collaborations with the
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the U.S. Air Force, Southwest Research Institute and other private and public entities. Last year alone, we increased research expenditures by 37 percent.
In the following pages, you’ll see just
a few of the many outstanding achievements being accomplished campuswide. I hope you will take a few minutes to glance through the magazine, and return to it again as you have
the opportunity.
Thanks for letting me share this good news about UTSA. I’d love to hear what you think. Please feel free to drop me a line at president@utsa.edu. Ricardo Romo, President
UTSA is accelerating toward its vision of becoming a premier public research
institution at an exciting and challenging
time. Academic research is no longer limited to
the creation and dissemination of knowledge and the training of the next generation of researchers. In the 21st century, “premier research” connotes
a much more extensive concept.
Today’s complex research problems require collaborations of interdisciplinary teams involving universities, health science centers, industry, the military, research institutions, governments and others. This is clear from the research road maps of most funding agencies. Furthermore, research does not end with discovery. There are additional obligations to take those discoveries through the next steps of development into meaningful products and services for society. This often involves joint ventures with the additional metrics of
intellectual property, workforce development and economic development.
UTSA has strategic advantages in meeting these new challenges. These include its vibrant multicultural population and exceptional opportunities for collaboration, which are of paramount
importance in our ability to recruit and retain world-class faculty and outstanding students and staff.
The specific research projects profiled
in this issue exemplify these multidisciplinary, collaborative approaches to complex problems. You will note the involvement of many of our
external research partners. Further, you will
observe that these programs carry discoveries
forward into meaningful applications for society.
UTSA’s climb toward premier public research
status will be fueled not only by its phenomenal
growth of students, faculty and facilities, but also by these dramatic changes in the scope of our global collaborative research.