SMU Achieves Top Research Activity Status
SMU has joined the ranks of the nation’s top private and public research institutions by achieving Research 1 status, the highest research activity designation from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
SMU is one of just 187 institutions around the country, and 16 in Texas, to have earned the R1 classification in 2025. In an average year, R1 institutions spend a minimum of $50 million on research and development, and award at least 70 research doctorates, according to the Carnegie Classification website.
“SMU is ambitious for ourselves and for North Texas, which is why we have made tremendous strides in research excellence over the past decade,” SMU President R. Gerald Turner said. “Achieving R1 status is only the latest step forward as we join all our ACC peer institutions designated as top-tier research universities.”
The combination of SMU’s strengths in supercomputing and data science, its growth in externally funded research, and its graduate education provided through the Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies helped enable it to achieve the highest research activity status, according to an SMU press release.
The University has made strategic investments in key research areas — including high-performance computing, cybersecurity, data science, artificial intelligence, biosciences, national security, urban research, technology-enhanced learning, and digital manufacturing, according to the release.
Thanks to the support of individual and corporate donors, SMU has more than tripled the number of endowed faculty positions over the past 30 years, invested in research programs and collaborations, and expanded fellowships for graduate students who conduct research, according to the university.
