Who We Are

The Division of Research and Innovation (DRI) works intentionally, strategically, and collaboratively across campus to support the UNT research community of faculty, staff, students, and external partners. 

The division aims to provide exceptional research services and administration, including development programs, compliance expertise, resources, knowledge of research translation to commercially important products, and student researcher development. Central to research success is the support for graduate student training and streamlining administrative needs to grow successful programs. 

UNT has proudly made significant strides to strengthen its research enterprise by reaching research Level 1 metrics within the state and nation, and we will continue along this path in partnership.  

Download Full Plan Division of Research and Innovation

Our Strategic Goals (2026–2030)

Students walk past the UNT Union

Grow the research enterprise

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DRI leads UNT's drive toward $250 million in annual research and development expenditures by 2030. Through targeted research development programs, core facility investments, and cross-college collaboration on large competitive grant proposals, DRI equips faculty, staff, and students to succeed in pursuing federal, state, and private research funding.

Our Implementation Priorities

  • Innovation, commercialization, and entrepreneurship: DRI's Innovation and Commercialization unit will complete its formation and build out the policies, procedures, and community engagement needed to support UNT's research translation pathway, with a long-term goal of reaching 100 annual intellectual property disclosures by 2030. 
  • Growing research expenditures: DRI's research development team will provide faculty with targeted training, grant writing support, and proposal management focused on agencies with active funding opportunities, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense (DoD), and state and private foundation programs, with a goal of 12% growth in annual research and development expenditures in FY27.  
  • Connecting researchers with industry partners: DRI will develop a structured program to facilitate engagement between UNT faculty, staff, and students and industry partners, with goals of increasing private research support, surfacing commercialization opportunities, and broadening student workforce pathways, developed in collaboration with academic units and University Advancement.  
  • Supporting graduate student recruitment and success: DRI will prioritize doctoral student recruitment and retention through competitive funding packages, enhanced research and career development programming, and streamlined administrative processes. Reducing barriers to dissertation completion and improving communication with graduate students are key FY27 priorities.

Core Metrics

1st to 2nd Year Retention
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 77% | UNT Target (2030): 90%

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • DRI supports undergraduate research opportunities, which have been shown to improve student retention by strengthening academic engagement and connection to faculty and research communities.
4-Year Graduation Rate
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 42% | UNT Target (2030): 65%

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • Support for undergraduate researchers which has been shown to improve retention rates.
6-Year Graduation Rate
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 61% | UNT Target (2030): 80%

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • Support for undergraduate researchers which has been shown to improve retention rates.
Annual R&D Expenditures
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): $124M | UNT Target (2030): $250M

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • DRI leads university-wide research growth through development programs, core facility support, strategic agency partnerships (NIH, DoD, state and private funds), and cross-college collaboration on large competitive grants.
Doctoral Degrees Awarded
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 286 | UNT Target (2030): 300

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • DRI supports doctoral success through competitive funding packages, career and professional development programs, faculty mentorship training, and efforts to improve student recruitment, retention, and dissertation completion.
Time to Value
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 6 years | UNT Target (2030): Decrease time for programs over median

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • DRI provides graduate students with career development programming and academic support services to help them complete degrees efficiently and transition into high-demand careers.

Emergent Metrics

Important Dimensions of Our Success that Require New Approaches

Post-graduation placement:
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Percentage of graduates placed in high-demand occupations or graduate and professional programs

DRI uses Academic Analytics to track where graduate students are employed, informing alumni engagement, student career programming, and assessments of program relevance to workforce demand.

Career-aligned learning:
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Percentage of academic programs that integrate internships, industry-sponsored projects, or other work-integrated learning experiences

DRI is developing a career program, in collaboration with academic units, to connect students with alumni and identify internship opportunities for those pursuing careers in industry, academia, and government.

Awards and recognitions:
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Prestigious awards, exhibitions, and performances achieved by our students, faculty, staff, and alumni

DRI uses Academic Analytics to identify faculty eligible for external awards and collaborates with the Faculty Success office to support nominations.

Innovation and entrepreneurship:
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New ventures, startups, and public impact projects launched by students, faculty, and alumni

The Innovation and Commercialization unit works with faculty on intellectual property disclosures, patent applications, and startup development. Building UNT's commercialization culture and research translation pipeline is a core DRI priority.

Student and alumni engagement:
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Perceptions of how well UNT prepares graduates to pursue lives of meaning and purpose

DRI uses Academic Analytics to track career transitions for recent master's and doctoral graduates, informing programming and student engagement strategies.

Unit Level Metrics

  • Customer satisfaction survey (1-5 scale; target average of 4.8-5 across all DRI units): Annual survey across DRI units identifies areas for service improvement and benchmarks the quality of research support provided to faculty, staff, and students.
  • Expenditure rate on active awards: Directly impacts R&D expenditures reported to the National Science Foundation; flags awards at risk of underspending or federal deobligation for proactive principal investigator engagement.
  • Faculty satisfaction and service quality: High service quality reduces administrative burden on faculty, encourages proposal activity, and improves campus trust in research administration operations.
  • NSF Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) data: DRI tracks HERD data for UNT and by college and has developed an AI tool to benchmark against peer institutions and identify research growth strategies.
  • Sponsored project proposal, award, and expenditure dashboards: Available to the UNT community; tracks research productivity at the university, college, department, and faculty level over five years.
  • Innovation and commercialization metrics (intellectual property disclosures, patent applications, licenses, startups): Tracks progress of the research translation pipeline from discovery to commercial or societal impact.
  • Core facility usage: Tracks equipment usage by researcher to inform resource allocation and facility planning.
  • Researcher compliance program engagement: Monitors required compliance training completion and tracks protocol progress, including Institutional Review Board and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee protocols.