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Research: Organizations & Centers of Excellence

UT Austin Research Units:
UT Austin has more than 100 research units and serves as the driver in the Austin region for research and discovery in emerging areas of science. Annual research funding exceeded $497 million in 2006-07 and more than 400 patents have been awarded to the university since its inception.

Since 1984, more than 40 $1 million-endowed chairs have been created at UT Austin to recruit internationally recognized faculty to accelerate research programs in engineering and science. The faculty at UT Austin is composed of a Nobel laureate, Pulitzer Prize winners, MacArthur fellows and hundreds of members of prestigious the academic and scientific organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the National Academy of Engineering.

The university's group of libraries has consistently ranked among the top 10 research libraries in the nation. The 17 libraries on UT Austin campus house more than nine million volumes.

Institute for Cellular & Molecular Biology

The Biochemical Institute

The Center for Biological and Medical Engineering

The Center for Molecular and Cellular Toxicology

The Imaging Research Center

The Institute for Neuroscience

The Institute for Theoretical Chemistry

Drug Dynamics Institute

The Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences

The Center for Strategic and Innovative Technologies

The Neuroscience Imaging Center

Texas Materials Institute

Center for Nano-Molecular Sciences and Technology

Texas Advanced Computing Center

The Microelectronics Research Center (MRC)

Other Research Centers & Initiatives

Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas
HB 14, approved by Texas voters in 2007, creates the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. The bill dedicates $300 million a year in general bonds to fund scientific research aimed at curing cancer. The bill will aid in research facilities and university and other members' support of research. The first grants will be available in 2010 and funding could continue until August 2020.

ATDF

In 1993, the University of Texas established the Institute for Cellular & Molecular Biology to focus closely on the revolutionary developments in genetics, cell biology, and molecular biology. The Institute encompasses more than 7 buildings that house research laboratories for faculty associated with the ICMB. These research labs include the DNA Sequencing Facility, Protein Microanalysis Facility, Microscopy & Imaging Facility, Analytical Instrumentation Facility (mass spectrometry instrumentation) and the Mouse Genetic Engineering Facility.

The Biochemical Institute operates as an association of semi-independent investigators whose programs are facilitated and augmented by resources provided through the Biochemical Institute.

The Center for Biological and Medical Engineering provides a mechanism to enhance the conduct of research in biomedical engineering within the College of Engineering and other affiliated academic units. The Center unites biological and medical engineering research of individual faculty and provides support for common administrative and laboratory needs of the faculty. Most of the activities of the Center are focused in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, other departments in the Colleges of Engineering and Natural Sciences, and medical institutions in the University of Texas System. It operates in close collaboration with the Center for Biomedical Engineering at the UTMD Anderson Cancer Center and the UT Health Science Center in Houston. The Center creates and maintains common research facilities to promote cooperative research and educational opportunities in the area of biological and medical engineering. The purpose of the Center is to improve the quality of life for citizens of Texas and the USA, to inspire and motivate students and faculty in research and learning in engineering applied to the life and medical sciences, and to create an environment for biomedical innovation for the greater BME community in Texas that will contribute to state economics and health care well being.

The mission of the UT CMCT is to provide leadership for the expansion of programs of excellence in environmental health sciences education and research. The CMCT is supported by the College of Pharmacy and also involves faculty in the College of Natural Sciences and the UTMD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Carcinogenesis, located at the Science Park-Research Division, in Smithville, about 40 miles east of Austin. The CMCT fosters interdisciplinary graduate training programs by providing the mechanism by which students can readily interface with a range of faculty interested in toxicology. This includes facilitating interdisciplinary research collaborations and providing ancillary student and research infrastructure support. Faculty participating in the Center therefore represents a wide variety of scientific disciplines (Pharmacology, Toxicology, Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutics, Neuroscience, Nutrition, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Marine Biology, and Civil and Mechanical Engineering).

The Imaging Research Center at UT Austin is dedicated to serve as a center of excellence in imaging science and technology through intensive interactions with academia, industry, government, and other laboratories in the US and abroad. The research problems addressed at the IRC are for the public good and include cognitive brain functions as associated with training and performance, investigation of the underlying factors associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, understanding brain functions as they relate to addiction, and multiple other biological processes which are appropriate for study using MRI. Researchers are also developing new fMRI and MRI techniques and procedures. This research is accomplished in a new building constructed specifically for this purpose using a high field (3 tesla) MRI instrument, an image analysis computer suit, laboratory and test rooms, offices, and a conference/classroom area.

The Graduate Studies Program is administered by The Institute for Neuroscience, which serves as a campus-wide umbrella organization responsible for the Graduate Program in Neuroscience as well as for research and teaching activities related to the neurosciences. The Program is multidisciplinary with more than 68 participating faculty from 12 departments on campus. In addition to the regular graduate program, the Institute for Neuroscience offers an MD-PhD degree in Neuroscience in conjunction with the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Students admitted into this dual-degree program undergo medical training at UTMB and then transfer to UT Austin to complete their graduate work.

The Institute for Theoretical Chemistry was established within the College of Natural Sciences in 1979 to provide a focal point for theoretical and computational chemistry research at UT Austin. The Institute is comprised of faculty members from both the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and the Department of Chemical Engineering, along with their research groups of visiting scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. The Institute enhances research effectiveness and education via interchange of ideas and expertise through regular seminars and group meetings, exposing all members to the diverse set of chemical problems and theoretical methods pursued by the Institute faculty. Advanced computing is facilitated by the high performance computing facility on the Austin campus, the Texas Advanced Computing Center, a member of the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure, sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

The goal of the Drug Dynamics Institute is to cultivate the discovery and development of drugs useful in the treatment of human disease. Research programs are focused primarily in the design and development of novel drug delivery systems. Institute research programs provide a training center for graduate and post-doctoral students engaged in research that lead to new concepts in drug delivery and identifies new therapeutic candidates and drug delivery systems for clinical trial evaluation.

The Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences was created at UT Austin to provide the infrastructure and intellectual leadership for strong interdisciplinary programs in computational engineering and sciences. The mission of the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences is to provide the infrastructure and intellectual leadership for developing outstanding interdisciplinary programs in research and graduate study in computational sciences and engineering and in information technology. The Institute currently supports nine research centers and numerous research groups.

The mission of the Center for Strategic and Innovative Technologies (CSIT) is to capture leading edge technologies developed at UT Austin and transition them to the marketplace through partnerships with industry and federal laboratories. CSIT develops partnerships between University laboratories, government laboratories and the private sector to move University technology to the marketplace. CSIT rapidly transitions research in sensors, communication, and behavior to address emergent needs in defense and homeland security.

The Neuroscience Research Center (NRC) is a university-wide center where diverse and multidisciplinary research is conducted to further the understanding of neural and behavioral disorders. Whether conducting cellular research in laboratories or clinical trials in patient care settings, the work of NRC researchers may someday contribute to preventing and treating such devastating disorders as: dementias resulting from Alzheimer's disease and stroke, mental retardation and other learning disabilities, mental illnesses, including schizophrenia and manic-depressive illness, alcoholism and other substance abuse problems, inability to process knowledge due to factors such as aging and head trauma and disabilities due to disorders of the developing nervous system.

The Texas Materials Institute at UT Austin is a "virtual" department that guides the destiny of materials science and engineering on the UT campus without imposing the limitations or boundaries inherent to departmental structures. Primary missions are to operate the graduate degree program in Materials Science and Engineering, to provide faculty and students on the UT Austin campus with the instrumentation and associated infrastructure needed to conduct modern materials research, to promote interdisciplinary research in the area of materials at UT Austin and to serve as the Organized Research Unit for materials research.

The CNM is a multidisciplinary research center with in the Texas Materials Institute at UT Austin. The Center's mission is to foster research, education, and outreach in nanoscience and nanotechnology at UT. The CNM has made substantial progress towards its goal of establishing UT as one of the leading university programs in nanoscience and nanotechnology. UT Austin has one of the largest and most influential nanoscience and nanotechnology faculty world-wide. Some of the main resaerch areas incude nanoelectronics, nano biology and medicine, nano structured polymers, nanoparticle synthesis, nanotechnology for energy needs (e.g. for photovoltaics, fuel cells and catalysis), nano applications to spintronics and plasmonics, nano imprint lithography, nano tube research, and nanomechanics.

Located at UT Austin, the TACC is a research center that provides advanced computing resources and services to enable computationally-intensive research and conducts research & development to enhance the capabilities of these resources. TACC operates an immersive visualization laboratory. TACC will hosts Ranger, a new National Science Foundation-funded system that is one of the most powerful general purpose supercomputers in the world, with peak performance of more than 420 teraflops.

The mission of the Microelectronics Research Center (MRC) at UT Austin is to perform education and research/development in materials and electronic devices. The MRC is a research laboratory funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the National Nano-Technology Infrastructure Network (NNIN). They provide clean-room and lab space for the development of technology (primarily nano-technology). Companies may utilize the space for a small fee or monthly charge without any financial obligation placed on the company's technology or intellectual property.

ATDF is an R&D foundry where nano-realted companies, semiconductor manufacturers, equipment and materials suppliers, universities, and other high tech firms from around the world come to perform cutting-edge research and development. ATDF's engineers develop baseline processes that bring new tools and materials to manufacturing at reduced cost. With highly customized development activities, customers have access to the processes, electrical data and equipment necessary to bring products to market-fast.