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DISCOVERY ON THE RISE
DISCOVERY
ON THE RISE
Every day Tarleton’s expert faculty and exceptional student researchers pursue fresh knowledge, solve real world problems and move life-changing breakthroughs from the lab to the marketplace.
They’re setting new standards of scholarship, incubating new technologies and building for the world a better future — all the while challenging themselves and others to go even higher and accomplish even more.
Their efforts have earned Tarleton the elevated designation of Doctoral Universities: High Research Activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, putting the university among only 132, or 4 percent, of schools across the country so recognized.
Criteria for the designation consider the number of research/scholarship doctorates awarded annually and a threshold of $5 million in discovery expenditures. Tarleton has graduated more than 130 doctoral students and spent some $60 million in faculty-led research over the past five years.
This fall’s invitation to join the prestigious Association of Public and Land-grant Universities underscores Tarleton’s place among the top schools in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. It’s an offer Tarleton didn’t expect until 2026 as outlined in the university’s 10-year strategic plan, but the tenacity of faculty, staff and administration made it happen now.
An uncompromising commitment to transformative research, academic might and student success perfectly complements the APLU mission to improve lives and livelihoods through a university degree. Tarleton is reaching beyond its gates to fuel regional economic growth and benefit the greater good.
A team led by Dr. Eunsung Kan is developing a biochar-assisted phytoremediation system to improve water quality during dairy manure application in three Texas counties, including Erath, home to Tarleton’s Southwest Regional Dairy Center — the only operational teaching and research operation of its kind in the state.
The inaugural PERS (President’s Excellence in Research Scholars) Research Symposium — the most attended event of its type in Tarleton history — provided $817,000 to propel 51 student-led research projects from vision to proof of concept in early 2022. Phase Two (an additional $1 million) supports 41 new projects involving 100 students and 68 faculty members.
Among other topics, student explorers and faculty trailblazers are probing plant-based materials to remove microplastics from water; innovative sustainability practices for dairy farms; enhanced rural communications and healthcare; and pollinators and food production.
They’re exploring the use of microbial enzymes found in soil to rid the environment of pesticides and other toxins. They’re surveying threatened turtle populations and collecting tissue samples for genetics work. They’re informing decision-making on complex issues related to crime prevention and the criminal justice process.
Wherever it starts — in a lab on campus, in a field in rural Texas, on the Guadalupe River — Tarleton research finds the same destination: the real world. The results speak for themselves.
Tarleton joins the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and the University of North Texas at Dallas for an interdisciplinary project, funded by the National Science Foundation, that examines how virtual-meeting platforms influence social and cognitive well-being. And Tarleton’s Southwest Regional Dairy Center is part of a $65 million U.S. Department of Agriculture collaboration to maximize climate-smart practices and develop new markets for Texas commodities.
Thirteen Tarleton research centers and institutes are cultivating connections with industry, government agencies and numerous higher education institutions to foster innovation and entrepreneurship.
Above: Dr. Billy Gray demonstrates how to calculate the break-even point of a new technology. The lecture was recorded via one of the many lightboards available in Tarleton laboratories. Below: Tarleton researchers are turning DNA samples into part of the solution to save map turtles (Graptemys caglei), which are found only in the Guadalupe River.
Tarleton’s Center for Agribusiness Excellence has saved the U.S. Department of Agriculture almost $1.7 billion and generated some $80 million in research funds since its founding in 2020. CAE utilizes superior analytic techniques — machine learning, advanced statistical algorithms, geospatial analysis — for the federal crop insurance program.
Research by the Institute on Violence Against Women and Human Trafficking leads the way in emancipating the world’s most vulnerable. Based on that research, the institute provides training and service learning to practitioners working to combat gender-based violence.
Created by the Legislature three decades ago, Tarleton’s Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research continues to play a vital role in developing water quality models and testing around the world. TIAER projects span 35 U.S. states and Canada, and include partnerships with China, Ecuador, Ethiopia and New Zealand.
Because the stakes are high and the issues critical, the university's Faculty Development and Research Initiative is providing more time for Tarleton professors to transform new knowledge into groundbreaking solutions by leveraging high-achieving graduate students for instructional capacity. There’s always something new to discover, another idea to investigate.
Whether weighing publications, presentations, patents or sponsored funding, Tarleton’s research, innovation and economic development endeavors rival those of the nation’s finest universities.
The next great engineers, educators, healthcare professionals, creatives, scientists, communicators and entrepreneurs will come from Tarleton State University.
And Tarleton will be the premier comprehensive regional university in the country. Count on it.
RECORD BREAKERS. ADVENTURE SEEKERS. CHANGE MAKERS. RISK TAKERS.
