Research
Boldly innovating to impact society and transform the world.
Northeastern University has achieved the prestigious recognition as a top-tier R1 institution for research activity among U.S. colleges and universities by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Our tradition of partnership and engagement guides a use-inspired and interdisciplinary research enterprise that is strategically aligned with three global imperatives: health, security, and sustainability. Our annual Annual Report highlights pioneering research and achievements over the past year.
The College of Engineering has over 240 tenured/tenure-track faculty, each bringing complementary areas of research expertise to address pressing global challenges. Their state-of-art-research looks at critical issues in materials, processes, systems, infrastructure, hardware and software at every scale—nano to macro to global—grounded in a translational approach that integrates the values of fundamental and applied research.
Our faculty boldly innovate by collaborating across engineering disciplines and the university, as well as with government, academia, and industry. The College of Engineering has more than 20 multidisciplinary research centers and institutes with funding from eight federal agencies. Our commitment to conducting transformative research to better the world can be seen by our growth in external research funding, which exceeds $100 million annually, and by an investment in research facilities such as our 223,000 square foot, six-story Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex and 367,000 square foot, eight-story EXP facility for teaching and research.
Research At-A-Glance
External Research Funding (FY2024)
Research Centers and Institutes
Young Investigator Awards (as of Aug. 2024)
Patents 2018-Aug. 2024
Related Resources
Understand how Northeastern partners with industry for research and workforce development
View the faculty directory for more information on individual researchers.
Recent News
Patent for a Scalable and Sustainable Approach to High Performance Computing
ECE Associate Professor Cristian Cassella was awarded a patent for developing a “Low power Ising system.”
Patent for Increasing the Yield and Safety of Essential Cancer Medicines
ChE/COS Associate Professor Carolyn Lee-Parsons was awarded a patent for “Cultivation and treatment of plants for the production of plant-derived drugs.”
Shrivastava and Zheng Receive MassCEC Funding for Climate Tech Advancement
ECE Associate Professor Aatmesh Shrivastava’s start-up, Think Analog, Inc., and MIE Associate Professor Yi Zheng were each awarded $75,000 as part of a $4.5 million Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) investment for 23 clean energy and climate technology projects.
Powering the Future with Clean Hydrogen Innovation
MIE Associate Professor Yi Zheng has secured a $500,000 grant from ARCK Energy to lead a five-year multidisciplinary project focused on developing advanced proton exchange membranes to enhance the efficiency and durability of hydrogen fuel cells.