The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching named Mississippi State University as very high research activity university. The institution’s funds for external and internal research for last year totaled over $240 million.
The recognition is part of the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education project.
Carnegie Project Director Chun-Mei Zhao said the foundation’s main goal is to provide both a better understanding of higher education and a research tool for institutions to know their peers.
“We’re trying to examine the whole landscape of the higher education system,” she said. “We look at all colleges and universities. We look at their mission and their general setting and size. [It’s like] looking at a city landscape using a binocular.”
Carnegie released the project, which surveyed 4,633 people, on Jan. 18, Zhao said.
David Shaw, vice president for research and economic development, said the university excels at research because it is a land grant institution, a college that focuses on teaching, research and service.
“We have a strong research focus because that’s part of the charter and part of the seal,” he said. “We have the philosophy of taking research and putting it into practice.”           
Zhao said the project also takes into consideration the university’s doctoral programs and the size of its research staff.
Each of the classification categories is equally considered.
“We don’t imply there are any quality differences among classification categories such as very high research activities and doctorate [programs],” she said. “We recognize research as important, but that doesn’t mean other things aren’t going on.”
Shaw said MSU has a large research staff consisting of post-doctoral graduates, graduate students and support staff.
Each of the colleges at MSU contributes to the Carnegie classification because of their outstanding doctoral programs, he said.
Lori Bruce, associate dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the Bagley College of Engineering, said MSU’s research funding makes it possible for students in doctoral programs to graduate.
“A graduate who is doing a dissertation wants to research something innovative, new and timely and important to the nation and state,” she said.  “Funding research makes it possible to recruit and graduate [our] graduate students.”
Shaw said MSU’s engineering college is a great asset for increasing external funding, or money gained outside of the school, usually through grants.
MSU spends 45 percent of its research and development funds on engineering, Bruce said.
“Funding [research and development] programs in the engineering department makes Mississippi look more viable because we have more technical expertise,” she said.
Shaw said MSU can improve its research by focusing more on multidisciplinary research. This research involves using two or more sciences or disciplines to solve problems.
Bruce said research facilities on campus foster multidisciplinary studies.
“Most of the research we have is multidisciplinary,” she said. “Most research projects will involve faculty and students from multiple disciplines.”
Bruce said another way MSU can improve its research is by putting a greater emphasis on biomedical research.
“We have expertise and we would like to grow that research area,” she said.
Zhao said Carnegie gathers its information from three sources: the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, the national science foundation and the annual survey of colleges.
Zhao said the overall level of research and development expenditures in institutions nationwide has increased since 2005.
Bruce said the recognition from Carnegie sends a clear message Mississippi can compete internationally and nationally.
“The research we do educates students,” she said. “It keeps faculty on the cutting edge, and it meets national and societal needs.”

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