Strategic Plan
Priority Research Growth Areas
In addition to supporting all university research, knowledge creation and creative endeavors, five priority growth areas have been identified to support the growing needs of the state and private industry including several areas that the University of Arkansas has existing research capability and strength.
Our Reaching Higher goals belong to the entire university, and every discipline will contribute to them in different ways. We will succeed by valuing and strengthening the full range of scholarship, creativity, research, teaching and service that is essential to fulfilling our land-grant mission.
- Provost Indrajeet Chaubey
Fulfilling Our Research Mission
RESEARCH
Materials, Semiconductors & Power Electronics
Positioning Arkansas as a national hub for next generation semiconductor and power electronics manufacturing.
Includes development, fabrication and characterization of advanced materials for power electronics, quantum, defense and energy applications.
RESEARCH
Food Systems & Nutrition
Strengthening the state's agricultural economy while addressing food insecurity and
nutrition disparities across rural Arkansas communities.
Includes food production, safety, processing, nutrition science and food technology;
and spans agricultural systems, food security, dietary behavior and nutrition interventions.
RESEARCH
Metabolic Health
Addressing chronic diseases like diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular conditions and
breast cancer that are disproportionately burdening rural Arkansas communities.
Includes prevention, treatment and reversal of chronic disease; and encompasses basic
science, clinical research, biomedical devices and population health interventions.
RESEARCH
Supply Chain & Contested Logistics
Strengthening America's supply chain infrastructure from Arkansas – home to the largest
concentration of retail and logistics industry partners.
Includes design, optimization and resilience of complex supply chains under disruption;
and spans logistics modeling, defense supply networks and AI-driven optimization.
RESEARCH
Lithium & Critical Minerals
Securing domestic critical mineral supply chains from the state’s Smackover Formation.
Includes extraction, processing, characterization and application of critical minerals
including lithium, rare earth elements and battery materials.
Fulfilling Our Research Mission
As a comprehensive public land-grant research university, the University of Arkansas has a responsibility to create new knowledge and provide meaningful impact to the state, nation and world. Faculty advance knowledge through scientific discovery, scholarship, creative activity, applied research, professional practice and other forms of inquiry appropriate to their disciplines.
Because every discipline advances knowledge and provides impact in different ways, research excellence is not defined only by research expenditures or any single measure. Growing externally funded research and research expenditures is an important university priority because it expands our capacity for discovery, innovation and impact. In disciplines where competitive grants, sponsored research, patents and commercialization are central indicators of excellence, we should aspire to perform at the highest levels nationally.
But those measures do not capture the full spectrum of knowledge creation at a comprehensive research university. Across other fields, excellence may be demonstrated through influential books and articles, citations, prestigious fellowships and awards, major commissions and creative works, performances and exhibitions, policy or professional impact, public scholarship, community-engaged research, or expertise that shapes institutions, industries and communities.
The U of A strives to provide a supportive environment for faculty in every field to do consequential work at the highest level, and to recognize, measure and communicate that excellence in ways that strengthen the university’s impact and national reputation.
