The commitment to further research and creative activity among our faculty and students is integral to MTSU’s mission. Faculty scholarship not only drives innovation and economic progress but also provides the foundation for the University’s strong undergraduate and graduate research programs.

Scholarship and research enterprises are at the core of MTSU’s academic master plan goals to enhance quality, foster student-centered learning, and develop and sustain partnerships.

Partnerships forged between MTSU researchers and industry are at the heart of MTSU’s crucial role in regional economic development. By becoming more strategic in our relationships with major players in economic development in the state and by creating institutes in partnership with business / industry, primarily supported by extramural funding, we have strengthened interactions in areas as diverse as aviation, construction and manufacturing, biotechnology, STEM education, health and wellness, and entertainment and tourism.

This edition of MTSU Research magazine shows how MTSU, founded a century ago as a teacher training college and tasked for decades with supplying the middle Tennessee region with top-notch undergraduate education, has in more recent years progressed by leaps and bounds as a center for research. On a purely quantitative basis, the number of articles reporting research from faculty members has increased, as has the dollar amount of extramural funding to support such research. The number of graduate programs increased by three with the introduction of Ph.D. programs in Computational Science, Molecular Biosciences, and Mathematics  and Science Education in the last year. The number of participants in undergraduate research programs has also grown along with the number of undergraduate and graduate students receiving national  and international recognition for their work.

We hope you enjoy these success stories and will come to believe, as we do, that the future is exceedingly bright for creation, innovation, and discovery at MTSU.