San Diego State University reached the status of a Research 1 institution, and was recognized by the Carnegie Foundation on Feb. 13 as one of the top 5% universities in research in the United States. 

To receive R1 status, the university must reach two specific criteria of spending at least $50 million in a year on research and giving out at least 70 doctoral research degrees. 

“It’s a designation that’s given to us when we submit two data points to the Carnegie Foundation,” Hala Madanat, the Vice President for Research and Innovation at SDSU, said. “They review all universities in the U.S. that submit their data, and then identify the ones that meet those two criteria. And so in the U.S., there are roughly a little under 4,000 campuses that they rank or review, and of those 4,000, this year only 187 are selected as an R1.”

SDSU is the first university in the California State University system to earn the R1 designation. 

“It is such a point of pride, obviously, for us to be the leader in our system in becoming an R1, but it also is a testament to our faculty and the hard work they do, [and] to our community that welcomes the collaboration for our research,” Madanat said. 

The title of an R1 school draws in the interests of students, as future SDSU student Coral Diaz (12), who plans to major in computer science, is “excited for the new opportunities that R1 brings to the students and faculty, [because the] new status will impact [her] quality of education in a positive way.”

With computer science requiring innovation, problem-solving and trial and error, research plays a crucial role.  

“SDSU being an R1 school influenced my commitment choice because of the opportunities available,” Diaz said.

This achievement will enhance SDSU’s reputation, as it is being recognized as a top competitive campus. According to Madanat, SDSU received over 122,000 applications last fall, which “don’t get that number easily.” 

“For our students, a really important thing for us is that the value of their degree goes up,” Madanat said. “Universities are brands, and it just brands us as a legitimate research institution in this country that graduates doctoral-level researchers. Employers tend to want to hire students that are R1. They know they’re well trained, that they understand research, that they know how to use equipment, that they’ve thought critically in their program, whether it’s the arts or the humanities, they had the opportunity to do things that are very applied, and that’s really why we think it’s a value to the university. They have opportunities not only in a classroom environment, but a campus that gives them opportunities to do actual applied experiences.”

The research opportunities at SDSU provided Jade Foyston (‘20), a psychology major student with an emphasis in neuroscience, with “the best preparation and resources to learn and apply knowledge from coursework to real life situations.” 

“Research is a very large part of my academic career,” Foyston said. “Neuroscience explores the connections between tissues of the body and how information from the body is relayed through different parts of the brain on the microscopic level. Research is done in many ways, such as cognitive assessments and neuroimaging techniques.”

The chance to work with research tools or participate in labs provides them with hands-on experience in their fields, giving them better preparation for future aspirations or careers. 

“I had the opportunity to familiarize myself with spatial resolution techniques like functional magnetic resonance Imaging since we have one on campus,” Foyston said. “I participated in the Brain Development and Imaging Labs, which is a branch of our Alvarado Research Center that specializes in studying Autism Spectrum Disorder. In this research assistant position, I was able to participate in sleep MRI studies at our on-campus MRI, analyze and score cognitive assessments and learn more about ASD through the patients coming to our facility.”

Research does not only apply to STEM-related fields — it extends to all areas of study, and the SDSU R1 designation benefits every program across the university.

“The nice thing about R1 is all about its research broadly, and we use the term … research scholarship and creative activities, because sometimes people refer to it like STEM and they think of engineering and sciences and being in the lab,” Madanat said. “And when we think about the benefit, we think about the benefit to the arts, to the humanities, to the social sciences [and] the sciences. All [majors] benefit by the fact that we become an R1.” 

SDSU is dedicated to providing their students with valuable research experiences, which will help their growth and development, and build skills and experiences necessary to succeed in their future careers. 

“My dream as Vice President for Research [and Innovation] is that every student, before they graduate will at some point, get to the point where they are touched by research experience at the campus,” Madanat said. “Because I truly believe that it’s transformational for students if they get a research experience, and we would like to make sure that if students come to SDSU and don’t have the experience, they get it with us because it is really transformational to the student experience and it’s what we truly believe. For our students, when they get out of the university, not only do they have relationships in the community in San Diego, but they’ve done work that people know, understand and can relate to.”