Team Effort, Dramatic Research Growth

While numbers tell an impressive story, Baylor’s pursuit of preeminence as a Christian research university has long been driven by far more than metrics: the chance to make a positive impact on the world around us by addressing our greatest global challenges. Our approach is infused by the University’s Christian mission, distinct in higher education. Baylor’s R1 designation by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education is evidence that higher education can successfully focus on both.

Baylor faculty, staff, administrators, postdocs, students — everyone has played a role in elevating the University’s research enterprise. In every meaningful metric used by Carnegie to measure research activity, Baylor has grown. Below is a small sample of the many data points that tell that story.

TOTAL RESEARCH AWARDS

In just five years, Baylor celebrated a five-fold increase in research awards. In 2022, the University launched its largest research project in its history, the Global Flourishing Study (GFS), conducted by the Institute for Studies of Religion. This historic project contributed $26.2 million to the total research awards. The numbers are certainly impressive with GFS, but even excluding the project, research awards grew by 147 percent from 2018 to 2022.

RESEARCH STAFF

Concerted efforts to increase research staff at Baylor have yielded results. Since 2018, the number of research staff comprised of postdoctoral scholars and other non-faculty researchers with doctorates working in science and engineering fields has almost doubled from 53 to 101. The promise of 100 net new faculty, combined with the more than 40 new endowed positions funded through Give Light, enabled a historic influx of top researchers and teachers.