MORGANTOWN, W. Va.–West Virginia University remains one of the top research institutions in the nation, according to the just-released 2021 rankings by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
WVU is one of only 146 colleges and universities to attain a ranking of R1, or very high research activity, alongside such institutions as Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Johns Hopkins. The designation is the most elite category for research-focused institutions.
The University first reached the R1 level in 2016. WVU has remained on that prestigious list ever since, as Carnegie releases assessments every three years.
“Earning a top spot in 2016 was such an incredible honor for our University,” President Gordon Gee said. “Staying on top validates that we are a powerhouse when it comes to research.
“The innovations, dedication and perseverance of our West Virginia University family, from our faculty, staff and students, have made this highly-revered status a consistent reality.”
Carnegie evaluated more than 3,900 institutions for the newest classification, which is based on a variety of factors including reach of research and teaching programs, number of doctoral degrees awarded and how much a university spends on research.
The R1 classification comes on the heels of another research milestone at WVU. For fiscal year 2021, the University pulled in $203 million in external funding for research and other sponsored programs, besting the previous year’s record by $8 million.
Fred King, WVU’s vice president for research, said the R1 classification is a desired outcome from the work that happens day-to-day throughout campus.
“Our goal, as researchers and scholars, first and foremost, is to produce quality work with real-world implications,” King said. “Recognition comes as a result of doing the right thing at a high level.”
King cited a multitude of trailblazing research projects that makes WVU stand out. Those include gravitation wave discoveries, rare earth element studies and a $10-million USDA-funded project to revitalize and reinvent marginalized lands in the Mid-Atlantic with biomass.
The Center for Foundational Neuroscience Research and Education and the Center for Kinetic Experiment, Theory and Integrated Computation Physics are also examples of WVU entities that are pushing breakthroughs in their respective fields, King added.