Research Excellence

This initiative aims to identify and launch activities that will increase national and international recognition of UT San Antonio as an institution of research excellence and to earn the status as a Research Intensive University, as identified by the National Research Support Fund (NRSF) (formerly the National Research University Fund) and Carnegie Classifications. Strategies aim to increase the institution's annual research expenditures, increase the pipeline and success of doctoral students, support UTSA’s faculty to achieve national research recognitions and the recruitment of National Academy members to UTSA.

Since launching this strategic initiative in 2018, UT San Antonio has elevated its research enterprise to national prominence. Most notably, the university achieved the R1 Classification (“very high research activity”) in 2021 and became eligible to participate in the National Research Support Fund (NRSF) in 2023. The university has vastly expanded its research portfolio, more than doubling its total research expenditures over the last seven years. 

• On September 1, 2025, UTSA and UT Health San Antonio integrated to form one unified university, The University of Texas at San Antonio (UT San Antonio). This historic merger positioned the university as the third-largest research university in Texas.
  
  
• On September 1, 2025, Jennifer Sharpe Potter, PhD, MPH, became the senior executive vice president for research and innovation.
  
  
• In September 2025, the Office of Research was renamed the Office for Research and Innovation and was restructured to better serve all faculty researchers across the newly integrated university.
  
  
• On November 12, 2025, the Office for Research and Innovation announced a new internal funding source titled the Health Research Challenge. The program is designed to foster research collaborations between the university’s academic and health campuses and to leverage transdisciplinary expertise to address pressing health problems in the world today.

Destination Two: Great Public Research University