On February 13, 2025, the Carnegie Foundation and the American Council of Education (ACE) published their 2025 Research Activity Designations, once again classifying the University of Maryland College Park (UMD) as a Research 1 (R1) institution in the Research Activity Designation, indicating Very High Spending and Doctorate Production. UMD has been an R1 university since the inception of this classification in 1973, marking over 50 years of being categorized in this highest level of research activity.
In the Carnegie Foundation’s news release, President Timothy F.C. Knowles explained the latest classification criteria, which are updated every three years to better capture the research productivity of universities across the country: “We are expanding our recognition of the range of ways colleges and universities engage in research and development. And we are taking the guesswork out of what it takes to be recognized as an R1 institution. Over time, this will be good for the sector, for scholarship, for policymakers and for students.”
The R1 classification, Very High Spending and Doctorate Production, is now defined by a clear threshold of $50 million in total research spending and 70 research doctorates awarded annually. In 2025, 187 institutions have been given a designation of R1, four of which are in the state of Maryland (the other Maryland institutions are Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland Baltimore, and University of Maryland Baltimore County). With research expenditures of $737 million and 631 research doctorates in 2023, UMD joins the list of top-tier academic institutions.
About the University of Maryland at College Park
As one of the world’s premier research institutions, the University of Maryland strives to transform lives by discovering new knowledge and putting it to work to benefit the state, our nation, and the global community. The breadth of research across our schools and colleges is fueled by more than 4,600 faculty who are developing innovative, research-driven solutions to critically important national and international challenges.=
To help accelerate our drive toward societal impact, we collaborate with fellow academic institutions in the U.S. and abroad. We are an active member of the Big Ten Academic Alliance, the Association of American Universities, and Universitas 21. The University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State initiative unites the complementary research strengths of the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore to achieve significant interdisciplinary collaborations and economic impact. The combined research enterprise of the University of Maryland, led by Vice President for Research Gregory Ball, is home to groundbreaking discoveries that impact the lives of people in our state, nation and the world, and ranks among the top 20 institutions in the nation in R&D expenditures.