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 235 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 a 101% increase in external research funding from FY2017 to FY2023, and by an investment in research capabilities 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.
Government and Industry Partnerships
Industry and government partner with Northeastern for basic and applied research. The reason is simple: they know that at Northeastern, our two guiding principles are interdisciplinary collaboration and engagement with the real world. These principles are reflected in our research programs, which are driven by critical issues in materials, processes, systems and infrastructure. Our research collaborations are a win-win-win: our partners receive knowledge and products tailored to their needs, our researchers validate and extend their work, and our students receive training and experience to become the next generation of effective technologists.
Research At-A-Glance
Recent News
Revolutionizing Edge Computing with Superconducting Deep Neural Networks
ECE Assistant Professors Marco Colangelo and Francesco Restuccia were awarded a two-year $500,000 DARPA grant for “Superconducting Deep Neural Networks at the Edge.”
Improved Underwater Acoustic Networking
ECE Professor Tommaso Melodia and Research Assistant Professor Emrecan Demirors were awarded a patent for designing a “Method and apparatus for wireless communications.”
Advanced X-Ray Technology for Enhanced Imaging
MIE Professor Yung Joon Jung was awarded a patent for creating an “X-ray detector with interdigitated network.”
3D Auxetic Composite Structures
MIE Associate Professor Yaning Li was awarded a patent for “Three-dimensional auxetic composite structures.”