ResearchResearch
Over the past several years, the college’s research portfolio has grown by leaps and bounds, with a steady increase in funding and significant growth in PhD students. This growth, spurred by the increased quality of our faculty’s research and additional leadership, has enhanced support of graduate programs and new facilities.
Each of the college’s departments maintains an active research portfolio across a wide range of disciplines that often merge for impactful interdisciplinary approaches in the areas of basic and applied engineering and science.
The college also actively encourages and supports undergraduate research experiences to help build strong scientific inquiry among our future engineers.
Much of our research is supported through industry and multi-institutional partnerships, large multi-year grants, and several research centers. As a regional driver of economic development, the college fosters public and private sector innovation, entrepreneurial activity, and job creation through key partnerships, grants, contracts, and other outreach services.
A large part of our success in obtaining more grants than ever in recent years is due to the concierge-level support of the college’s Engineering Research Office. ERO works in concert with the UT Office of Research, Innovation & Economic Development to maximize the support of faculty research productivity across a wide variety of agencies.
University
research
The University of Tennessee is home to thousands of world-class faculty, staff, students, and partners conducting research, scholarship, and creative work at the forefront of knowledge, unlocking solutions to complex challenges and serving the people of Tennessee and communities far beyond.
Research Expenditures
The college has $83.5M in annual research expenditures from NSF, DoE and UT-Battelle, DoD, industry, the State of Tennessee, and other federal and private agencies.
Full-Time Equivalent Tenure/Tenure-Track Faculty
The Tickle College of Engineering houses 16 percent of the university’s tenure-line faculty producing more than 50 percent of the university’s externally awarded research expenditures.
24
Early Career Awards since 2016
(Meet our Early Career Awardees)
11
UT-ORNL Governor’s Chairs
2
members of the National
Academy of Engineering
1
Turing Award Winners
Recent Research Highlights
Porous Steel May Be the Secret to Impact Resistance
Suresh Babu and UT alum Kevin Lamb have discovered that the pores in additively manufactured steel, long considered a nuisance, can actually make components better in some configurations.
Trinh Lab’s New Yeast Strain Upcycles Stubborn Plastics
Professor Trinh has helped develop a yeast strain that can upcycle polyolefin plastic, a major pollutant, into useful biochemicals and biodegradable plastics.
TIBML’s Hattar Oversees Microscopy Advance Through International Connections
Associate Professor Khalid Hattar, director of the Tennessee Ion Beam Laboratory, coordinated work with international teams to install a first-ever advanced lens for an electron microspore at Sandia National Laboratories.