Redefining What’s Possible

We tackle grand challenges through creative scholarship and bold research.

Four smiling researchers wearing lab coats and gloves look at a laptop screen together in a science laboratory.

Focused for the future

We’ve focused our energy on five broad research areas, which serve as innovation gateways for our faculty and partners. These gateways align with UT’s strengths, collaborations and investments that have the greatest opportunities to benefit Tennessee and the nation.

Advanced Materials & Manufacturing

Synthesizing knowledge into cutting-edge products and services

Explore our research

A CMM probe with a ruby tip measures the edge of a machined metal part featuring a circular textured surface.

Artificial Intelligence

Harnessing AI to advance scientific discovery and real-world benefits

Explore our research

A smiling man in glasses gestures with his hands during a meeting with colleagues in a modern office setting.

Energy & Environment

Stewarding natural resources to secure the nation’s future

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A smiling man gestures toward a large screen of power grid visualizations while presenting in a high-tech laboratory.

Future Mobility

Accelerating safe, efficient mobility solutions to enhance prosperity

Explore our research

Two grad students working on the autonomous vehicle GRANT in a neuromorphic computing lab.

Health & Wellness

Solving challenges from the lab to the bedside to improve quality of life

Explore our research

A man on a stationary bike holds a VR headset while talking to a gesturing colleague in a fitness research laboratory.

Priorities converge

UT’s collaborations with US Department of Energy’s national laboratories align with and complement our five innovation gateways. The UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute (UT-ORII), a partnership of UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, are co-investing in convergent research initiatives to tackle specific high-priority challenges like fusion technology and radiopharmaceutical therapies.

Nuclear reactor components submerged in a pool emit a bright blue Cherenkov glow at the High Flux Isotope Reactor.

A researcher in a lab coat and red gloves prepares a sample for a laboratory analyzer in a blue-lit science lab.

Recognized research hubs

UT houses a variety of national, university, and college-based research centers and institutes. This list provides a small sample of the many centers and institutes that support our researchers within their areas of expertise and provide tools for blazing new connections across disciplines.

A researcher in an orange glove uses a precision band saw to cut a small cylindrical bone-like specimen.

UT is committed to tackling grand challenges in our state and around the world as we shape tomorrow’s leaders and inspire the future workforce. This is how we make life and lives better today and over the long term.
David Anderson
Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, UT College of Veterinary Medicine

Researchers stand in silhouette before a large curved display wall showing eight panels of scientific data visualizations.

Investing in interdisciplinary growth

Picture this: Physics and literature professors teaming up. Materials scientists and veterinarians patenting inventions. Engineers and social workers co-piloting a project. This is how we’re redefining what’s possible.

It’s also why we’re investing in interdisciplinary faculty cluster hiring initiatives. We’re bringing together new and established faculty members to build boundary-breaking research programs, prepare students for emerging careers, and strategically tackle grand challenges side by side with industry, community, and government partners.

Learn about UT’s cluster hiring initiatives

What can we achieve together?

We put our strengths to work for industry, community, and government partners that share our commitment to innovating for impact.

Learn about partnership opportunities