UMass Amherst Holds Top Research Status Among U.S. Universities

AMHERST — UMass Amherst maintains its designation as a R1 research institution, a top-tier national ranking by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education that recognizes universities with the highest level of research activity and doctorates awarded.

Established in 1973 by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, the Carnegie Classification is a framework used to categorize U.S. colleges and universities based on their research activity and institutional characteristics. It has become a key benchmark for assessing the research impact and academic mission of institutions.

As an R1 institution, UMass Amherst is among colleges and universities that spend an average of at least $50 million on research and development and award at least 70 research doctorates per year. UMass Amherst’s research covers a wide range of disciplines and areas of expertise, including outstanding contributions to food science and agriculture, the study of human diseases and interventions to improve human health, issues of justice and public policy, and computational sciences and engineering.

According to data collected by the American Council on Education, in FY 2023, UMass Amherst research expenditures were $268.6 million, and it awarded approximately 300 research doctorates from 2020 to 2023. In FY 2024, UMass Amherst was the recipient of $251.3 million in research awards and placed top in New England for public universities in awards from the National Science Foundation.

“This designation as an R1 reaffirms our campus’ excellence as well as our commitment to the generation of new knowledge,” said Laura Vandenberg, associate vice chancellor and vice provost for Research and Engagement. “R1 universities are those that produce a significant number of doctoral graduates and bring in significant federal funds that allow us to sustain our research, including many innovative projects that advance our understanding of the world around us. R1 universities are also committed to the education and preparation of the next generation of researchers, and UMass Amherst has long been dedicated to these efforts.”

UMass Amherst has been longtime member of the R1 Carnegie Classification, added Mike Malone, vice chancellor for Research and Engagement. The university maintains its status in 2025 under an updated methodology intended to better account for the multi-faceted, wide-ranging research landscape of higher education institutions in America.

The university’s researchers have been recognized for their inventions and collaborative discoveries, such as the first images collected of a black hole, ways to advance AI while reducing energy consumption, entrepreneurship in the context of the arts, public-health interventions focused on social determinants of health, and understanding the toxicity and potential for remediation of water pollutants like PFAS ‘forever chemicals.’

“Work at the university aims to generate fundamental knowledge and information about the human body, the world around us, and the universe more broadly,” Vandenberg added. “In short, our research continues to advance the common good.”