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
Northeastern Engineering Professors on the Lack of Representation in Medical Research
MIE/BioE Professor Sandra Shefelbine and BioE Associate Professor Chiara Bellini discuss the lack of representation of women in medicine and medical research, specifically in their research areas of bone biomechanics and cardiovascular health–respectively.
New Research Develops Method to Repair Nerves from Nasal Stem Cells
Two ChE Associate Professors, Abigail Koppes and Ryan Koppes, recently patented a technique that can turn nasal stem cells into Schwann cells, which are used to repair damaged nerves. While doctors often damaging existing nerves to create Schwann cells, this method only involves an outpatient procedure from the patient’s own nose, also reducing the risk of rejection.
First Observation of Quantum Oscillations in Second-Order Electrical Transport
COS/ECE Professor Mingzhong Wu and his team recently published “Quantum Oscillations of Nonlinear Electrical Transport in a Topological Dirac Semimetal” in Physical Review Letters.
NSF CAREER Award to Develop Next Generation Optical Frequency Combs
ECE Assistant Professor Sunil Mittal was awarded a $560K NSF CAREER award for “On-Chip Coupled Resonator Arrays for Generating Unconventional Classical and Quantum Optical Frequency Combs (CRAYONS).”