Two female student wearing lab coats working in scientific lab

Research

Discovery happens here. The University of Minnesota Twin Cities is a top 10 U.S. public research university with world-class academics, award-winning faculty, and state-of-the-art facilities. Our researchers and students uncover new knowledge and find solutions to some of the most complex challenges facing society today.

10th

Among public research institutions

2.1+

Million Square Feet of Research Space

Nobel Prize Recipients

10th

Among public research institutions

2.1+

Million Square Feet of Research Space

Nobel Prize Recipients

Student Research

From unlocking the secrets of DNA repair to zero gravity flight, students experience the thrill of discovery, learning under the direction of faculty who are leaders in their fields.

student working outside in a field gathering plants

Undergraduate Research

In fields from engineering to medicine, business, law, and liberal arts, our students become tomorrow’s trailblazers through limitless research opportunities.

Internship and Research Opportunities

Graduate Research

Graduate students have the opportunity to perform research through any of more than 200 master’s and doctoral degree programs.

Graduate School Education

“It felt like a big thing for me, going to college and especially getting a degree that’s basically shorthand for rocket science.”

Robert Halverson, '21

Aerospace Engineering

Read Robert’s story

Research in the Colleges

With 16 colleges and more than 300 centers and institutes, the opportunities for discovery are endless.

Our centers and institutes connect researchers with similar interests to increase funding and strengthen the quality of research.

All Centers and Institutes

Industry and Collaborations

Our research advances society through new ideas, technologies, treatments, and cures, and we continue to create and transfer technology to companies for the development of new products and services that benefit the public good and foster economic growth.

$8.6 billion

economic impact in Minnesota

Fortune 500 companies--fourth in the nation, per capita.

$1.01 billion

in research expenditures

Discover Unique Opportunities

We drive innovation that lifts Minnesota and solves global challenges. We do this by working together—with government, business, and industry partners—in new and creative ways.

Technology Commercialization Venture Center Minnesota Innovation Partnerships MnDRIVE Industry Engagement

Faculty Resources

The University of Minnesota Twin Cities is one of the most comprehensive research universities in the nation. We support the groundbreaking interdisciplinary research efforts of our more than 5,000 faculty, who are driven to make the world a better place through research and discovery.

Academic Affairs and Provost Office of the Vice President for Research Office for Public Engagement

Research News

An image depicting ceramics at different temperatures.

Research Brief

Exploding and weeping ceramics provide path to new shape-shifting material

An international team of researchers from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and Kiel University in Germany have discovered a path that could lead to shape-shifting ceramic materials.

Research Brief

Chemical researchers invent bio-petroleum for sustainable materials

A team of researchers from the U.S. National Science Foundation Center for Sustainable Polymers based at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have developed a chemical technology of combined fermentation and chemical refining that can produce petroleum-like liquids from renewable plants.

Research Brief

Large MeerKAT telescope data release reveals beautiful new cosmic puzzles

An international team, including lead researchers from the University of Minnesota and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), have released highly detailed images of radio emissions from 115 clusters of galaxies that give new clues to the formation and evolution of galaxies throughout the Universe.