Record-setting research at VCU
Dear VCU and VCU Health community,
For more than a decade, Virginia Commonwealth University has steadily and strategically taken our place among America’s premier public research universities. This includes setting institutional records in sponsored research activity 10 times in the last 12 years. We are justifiably proud of our enterprise-wide focus and commitment to research, scholarship, and creativity that has advanced the human experience and made us nationally renowned for impact and innovation.
It is in that spirit that we are pleased to announce a historic new milestone for VCU. For the first time, we have reached $310 million in sponsored research, an institutional record by 13%. This total puts us among the top three Virginia universities, and nationally, we rank No. 54 for federally funded research among public universities and No. 67 for all research by public universities.
These rankings are a remarkable testament to the dedication of our faculty, staff, and students who invest so much into research and innovation. In many ways , we continue to prove that we are a university of great conscience, that we take on what others find challenging, that we will be the ones to engage in and advance the work that matters most. We are more than a university of renown, we are a community of conscience. We work where we can have the greatest impact—measured both in sponsored research and social justice—and where our strategic curiosity and passion for discovery can elevate people everywhere.
While we celebrate this institutional milestone and acknowledge the extraordinary contributions of researchers and innovators across VCU, we also recognize that there is still much more to do. Indeed, we will continue advancing a research profile that is uniquely VCU and that supports the talents and ambitions of our world-class teams who focus on solving humanity’s greatest challenges. You will hear more about these exciting next steps in the coming days.
In the meantime, we celebrate your incredible achievements and the many ways you are positioning VCU as a national leader in research, innovation, creativity, and scholarship.
Sincerely,
Michael Rao, Ph.D., President
VCU and VCU Health System
P. Srirama Rao, Ph.D., Vice President
Research and Innovation
