Research
The UT College of Engineering pursues new understanding through basic research while striving to translate the outcomes into practice that benefits humanity and society. The College is a cornerstone of UT's mission "to move forward the frontiers of human knowledge and enrich and elevate the citizens of the state of Tennessee, the nation, and the world" as part of the institution's strategic plan: VolVision: Journey to the Top 25.
Over the past several years, our research program has grown by leaps and bounds, with a steady increase in funding and significant growth in PhD student involvement over the last five years. This growth, spurred by the increased quality of our faculty's research, as well as additional research leadership, has enhanced support of graduate programs and new facilities.
The Tennessee Governor's Chair Program further facilitates this growth by the addition of nationally and internationally recognized leaders in environmental, nuclear, material, electrical, and chemical engineering
The College is able to compete for the best graduate talent through the Bredesen Center, in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the highly competitive UT Chancellor's Graduate Fellowship program.
UT boasts new state-of-the-art engineering facilities, including the recently opened Min Kao Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building, which supports the largest department in the College. The John D. Tickle Engineering Building, which will house our Civil & Environmental Engineering and Industrial & Systems Engineering Departments, is slated to open in the fall of 2013. The College will also have faculty members in the Joint Institute for Advanced Materials building that is under construction.
The College is home to several research centers and collaborative research initiatives. We invite you to explore the links on these pages to learn more about ongoing research, our various academic programs, and the support that we provide to researchers pursuing external funding.
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Research Highlights
As the depth and breadth of the College of Engineering's faculty quality and capabilities of our facilities have grown, the College's research portfolio has diversified.
From whirligig beetles here on Earth to the bug-like rover traversing Mars, some of the more recent CoE research ventures include
- New methods and policies in nuclear nonproliferation
- Advancing energy storage—novel fuel cells, flow batteries, and biologically based energy options
- Investigating biological systems to inspire new solutions to engineering problems
- Advancing space exploration by engineering robust electrical circuits for traversing the extreme Martian environment
- Using a national leadership role to drive the creation of a responsive and flexible continent-wide electrical grid
- Exploring sustainable transport in the rapidly expanding economy of China
- Improving the retention in engineering of at-risk freshmen from academically weak K-12 systems and, at the other extreme, highly talented honors female freshmen
For more detail, please see Faculty Research.
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Undergraduate Research
As a public research institution, the University of Tennessee is committed to enriching the educational experience of undergraduate students through research. Research experiences for undergraduate students reinforce classroom learning, clarify career interests and goals, and stimulate interest in graduate study.
During the summer or throughout the academic year, working alongside a faculty member provides the student with access to cutting-edge technologies and the opportunity to further develop the ability to think, learn, and work independently; sharpen analytical skills; and contribute to the creation of new knowledge. UT engineering students have access to a number of programs to support their research interests.
- UT Undergraduate Summer Research Internships
- NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)
- TLSAMP program of the College's Office of Diversity
- The NSF-funded RISER program
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Translational Research
With the diversification of the College's research initiatives and the ever-increasing portfolio of scientific knowledge, technology transfer and commercialization have become increasingly important. College of Engineering faculty members are active participants in the institutional efforts at UT to create and develop intellectual property. While the College's contributions are focused in computer science, electrical engineering, and materials science engineering at present, we are experiencing a diversification in the development of intellectual property, particularly as the University of Tennessee Research Foundation gains strength, as evidenced by its accomplishments in 2012:
- 22 new license and option agreements
- 9 new companies
- 23 US patents
- 144 new inventions
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Corporate and Government Partnerships
The College of Engineering recognizes the importance of external partnering to benefit the efforts of faculty and students for the good of the College, the University, and our partners. We work with both the University's Office of Research and UT Development to create partnerships of value to all parties. Examples of our current partnerships include:
- CURENT—This NSF/DOE-funded research center was established in part because of the strength of its planned industry partnerships that span from power-generation companies to technology companies to new start-ups.
- Eastman—The Eastman connection dates back decades and is clearly among our strongest partnerships. Research funding, corporate philanthropy, student Capstone Design Projects, interaction in the Process-Control Lab, and extensive co-op and internship experiences are all important components of this expanding relationship. UT engineering alumni are prominent in Eastman's leadership team and are a vibrant part of its global workforce.
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory—Through joint institutes, joint faculty members, jointly supervised graduate students and undergraduate research supervision, the efforts of the College in energy, materials, and security research are richly entwined with ORNL's mission and goals.
- Siemens Medical Solutions—In the early 2000s, Siemens stepwise increased the College's growing knowledge and experience in crystal synthesis and characterization by providing financial, personnel, and equipment support to establish the Scintillation Materials Research Center. This relationship continues to expand and has diversified to include governmental support.
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College Research Centers
The College is home to a number of research centers, which reflect our range of partners, our commitment to translational research, and our diversity of funding sources.
- CURENT is an NSF/DOE-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) working to improve the continent-wide transmission grid while training the next generation of globally savvy electric power and energy systems engineers.
- The Center for Intelligent Systems and Machine Learning (CISML) was formed in 2010 to spur the development of the theory and practice of intelligent systems and machine learning technologies via the active research collaboration of faculty, industry, and national lab researchers.
- The Center for Materials Processing is a State-funded Center of Excellence pursuing multidisciplinary research in the creation of novel materials through the control of their structure. The CMP heavily emphasizes graduate student involvement.
- The Center for Transportation Research is the longest running center in the College. Its research emphasis is about improving comprehensive transportation safety through a combination of state and federal funding.
- The Institute of Biomedical Engineering, our newest center, focuses on improving medical procedures, medical equipment, and quality of life through a multidisciplinary collaboration across UT combining basic research with device development.
- The Reliability and Maintainability Center is an industry-supported center that provides education, research & development, and information exchange about the application of reliability and maintenance engineering tools and concepts.
- The Scintillation Materials Research Center is the product of a collaboration with Siemens Medical Solutions that has grown to include the identification and synthesis of novel materials for detecting threats to national security.
- The Joint Institute for Advanced Materials is a joint project of the University and ORNL. JIAM is one of the world's largest and best-equipped centers for advanced materials science and provides a broad, multidisciplinary platform to address an extensive range of challenges confronting today's materials scientists.
Information about other centers outside the College with major participation by Engineering faculty can be found at www.engr.utk.edu/research/centers.html.
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Engineering Research Office
The College's Engineering Research Office exists to assist our faculty in their pursuit of externally funded research. We are happiest when we are busy helping our faculty, so please get in touch! We also interface with the UT Office of Research & Engagement during proposal development and submission. Additionally, the University's Office of Research provides services well beyond simple proposal submission, including access to internal funding opportunities and proposal development, particularly for prestigious faculty award opportunities and Center-scale proposals.
For external funding opportunities, Grants.gov lets you navigate funding opportunities from 26 different federal agencies, and SciVal is a comprehensive database of federal and nonfederal funding opportunities from all over the United States and the world. The agency-specific links below are also useful and informative when exploring federal funding opportunities.
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Agency Links
| Agency Links | Agency opportunities specific to early career faculty and beginning investigators |
|---|---|
| National Science Foundation (NSF) | |
Department of Defense: |
Young Investigator Program, AFOSR |
*Check the agency website for up-to-date information:
http://www.onr.navy.mil/Contracts-Grants/Funding-Opportunities.aspx.