interior of building with spiral staircase

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

$118M

External Research Funding (FY2023)

20

Research Centers and Institutes

142

Young Investigator Awards (as of Aug. 2023)

154

Patents 2017-Aug. 2023


Recent News

$1.5M NSF Grant to Develop New Photonic Materials

MIE/ECE Associate Professor Yongmin Liu and ECE Assistant Professor Sunil Mittal, in collaboration with Professor Wenshan Cai from Georgia Institute of Technology and Professor Alexandra Boltasseva from Purdue University, are leading a $1,500,000 NSF DMREF grant for “Accelerating the Design and Development of Engineered Photonic Materials based on a Data-Driven Deep Learning Approach.”

Ozlem Ergun

Ergun Gives Plenary Speech at ISMP 2024

MIE Distinguished Professor Ozlem Ergun is giving a plenary speech at the upcoming 25th International Symposium on Math Programming that will focus on her research related to the improvement of global food aid operations using mathematical programming.

Ramezani’s Research Featured on Cover of National Geographic

ECE Associate Professor Alireza Ramezani’s research on “Bats have disease-defying superpowers. What if we could copy them?” was featured on the cover of the August 2024 edition of National Geographic.

Innovating Through Artificial Intelligence

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, state economic development and technology leaders, and other officials visited Northeastern to learn from faculty how AI can solve some of the most pressing issues in the state and the world. CEE Distinguished Professor Auroop Ganguly, ECE/Khoury Distinguished Professor Jennifer Dy, and ECE Professor Taskin Padir were in attendance.