Lawrence Tech earns new Carnegie ‘R’ research university classification

SOUTHFIELD—The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education has classified Lawrence Technological University to its new R-Research Colleges and Universities category.

The reclassification recognizes recent strong growth in Lawrence Tech’s research activity, including sponsored research funding and investment in research scholarship.

The Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education are a framework for categorizing colleges and universities in the United States. The classifications are based on an institution’s mission, function, and empirical data. Established in 1970 and revised numerous times since, the classifications are used by researchers, policymakers, and funders to benchmark postsecondary institutions. The R classification is new, part of a 2025 revision of Carnegie’s classifications.

Colleges and universities in the R category must have sponsored research funding of at least $2.5 million a year, a mark easily surpassed by LTU.

Lawrence Tech’s sponsored research funding has grown from $1.8 million in 2020-21 to $3.1 million in 2021-22, $4.6 million in 2022-23, and more than $9 million in 2023-24. Research funding comes from industry partners and government agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

“This new classification from Carnegie is another milestone on LTU’s continuing transformation from primarily a teaching institution to an institution that is both a research powerhouse and a university that offers superior teaching as well,” LTU President Tarek M. Sobh said. “As LTU leaders have long noted, it is the responsibility of a truly eminent university to not only teach students existing knowledge, but to offer them the opportunity, through research, to create new knowledge for the benefit of society.”

All five of LTU’s Colleges—Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Business and Information Technology, Engineering, and Health Sciences—have been part of this growing emphasis on research.

Two years ago, LTU also established a new Office of Research and Economic Development to provide resources for LTU faculty to win more research funding, and to provide both undergraduate and graduate students with more opportunities to conduct research that is published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The office is led by former longtime LTU Dean of Engineering Nabil Grace, whose long career has attracted more than $25 million in research funding, mostly in the areas of advanced materials for road and bridge construction.

“Under Dr. Sobh’s leadership, Lawrence Tech is well on its way to our goal of becoming an institution that earns Carnegie’s classification of R2, High Research Activity,” Grace said. “Our faculty is currently pursuing millions of dollars more in research funding that will result in scientific advances to improve the lives of people in Michigan and around the world, and we are pursuing new doctoral programs in a wide variety of disciplines.”

Lawrence Technological University is one of only 13 independent, technological, comprehensive doctoral universities in the United States. Located in Southfield, Mich., LTU was founded in 1932, and offers more than 100 programs through its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Business and Information Technology, Engineering, and Health Sciences, as well as Specs@LTU as part of its growing Center for Professional Development. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 11% of universities for alumni salaries. Forbes and The Wall Street Journal rank LTU among the nation’s top 10%. U.S. News and World Report lists it in the top tier of best Midwest colleges. Princeton Review lists LTU in the nation’s top 15%. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 107-acre campus include more than 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.