Research and Economic Development

UNT is a leading research university that is nationally and internationally recognized for its scholarship in all fields — from fine arts to technology, humanities to life sciences, and music to entrepreneurship. UNT is committed to the creation and advancement of innovative research, art and scholarship.

One of the primary responsibilities of this office is to develop and implement strategies in collaboration with the Office of the Provost and other vice presidential areas to transform and expand UNT's research enterprise.

One area that reflects ORED’s vision in the development of new initiatives is the Strategic Plan for Research, UNT’s ten year plan towards becoming a national research university.

UNT is transforming its research infrastructure by creating world-class facilities, renovating existing space, investing in the latest tools, and hiring top-level faculty from around the world to enhance its base of expertise, as well as business and industry partnerships.

Latest investments include a new, high performance supercomputer to support computational research projects; a nanofabrication facility and clean room for advanced materials synthesis and analysis; a LEED certified Life Sciences Complex — a “living lab” featuring cutting edge labs and greenhouses for biochemistry, developmental physiology and genetics, molecular biology and plant science; and a design research center furthering projects at the nexus of art and design, communication and business.

UNT has a great combination of excellence and potential. The university can capitalize on its long-held strengths in the sciences, which include a 100-year-old chemistry program, a nearly 90-year-old biological sciences program, and a 75-year legacy in the environmental sciences.

At the same time, UNT is shaping its young engineering and technology programs to be leading collaborative research programs from the outset. And with UNT's nearly 290-acre research park, Discovery Park, offering the potential for incubation and technology commercialization with companies, UNT can be a research hub like no other. By building cutting-edge, university-managed facilities that support innovative, collaborative research with industry and the private sector, we're creating new areas of excellence for the university while making important advances in health, science, technology, agriculture, the environment and so much more.

Thomas McCoy, Vice President for Research and Economic Development

E-mail:tom.mccoy@unt.edu
Phone: 940-369-7487