UTA federal research expenditures doubled in 2023

In 2023, federally sponsored research at The University of Texas at Arlington accounted for $77 million in expenditures, with about $40.7 million spent on research-related goods and services in Texas. That more than doubles the total for 2022, when federally sponsored research at UTA contributed $38 million to the economy.

The $77 million is a portion of UTA’s $122 million in total research expenditures from all sources last year. This number includes federally sponsored research awards as well as those from local and state governments, private institutions, and other sources. Overall, UT Arlington and its 270,000 alumni contribute $29 billion in annual economic impact on Texas.

“It’s an honor that so many prominent federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation support the work of UTA’s talented faculty and student researchers,” said Kate Miller, vice president of research and innovation for UT Arlington. “I’m so proud that these organizations recognize the value of UTA’s research efforts and have chosen to increase their support as we work to solve some of society’s biggest problems.”

According to the report produced by the Institute for Research on Innovation and Science (IRIS), the top federal agencies supporting UTA research in 2023 were the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Transportation, Department of Defense, Department of Commerce, and Department of Energy.

The 2023 report complements earlier reporting from IRIS that showed research projects from UTA contributed $226.4 million to the national economy from 2018 to 2022.

IRIS is a national consortium of research universities organized around an institutional review-board-approved data repository housed at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.

The IRIS reports aim to clarify and explain the economic impact of university research through many different lenses, with the goal of providing data-driven reports that help universities understand, explain, and improve the public value of higher education and research.

This report is based on administrative data UTA supplied to IRIS, which was then merged with other public and private datasets. Reports are available to IRIS members. No individual businesses, employees or students are identifiable in the reports.