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“Every sector of higher education has a vital role to play in the advancement and application of knowledge,” Ashley Finley, vice-president of research for the American Association of Colleges & Universities, said. “51����’s recognition in the new cohort of Carnegie Research Colleges and Universities is a recognition that dedication to high quality teaching does not come at the expense of deep, meaningful research. 

“The existence of both can, and should, define institutional excellence.”

The new designation applies to institutions that average at least $2.5 million per year on research and aren’t in a larger R1 or R2 classification. Some 218 institutions, less than 1% of the nation’s colleges and universities, fall into the new RCU category. 

The classifications are an important benchmark of the level of work being performed, a helpful guide for researchers, policymakers and the public, as well as foundations and government agencies that fund projects. The news comes, though, at an anxious and uncertain time for research in higher education, as colleges and universities — and even Congress — try to sort out executive orders in Washington that could jeopardize critical federal funding, including for medical research. 51���� currently has about $5 million in federal research grants, and college leaders have joined other institutions in urging lawmakers to support higher education funding.  

Her research was recently published in an article in Frontiers in Immunology. After graduation, she plans to obtain a master’s degree focused on diabetes or immunology, and then, go on to an M.D./doctoral program.

“I’ve presented my work to a myriad of audiences, from undergraduate and graduate students to experts in the field of T cell development and immunology,” Meyers said. “Due to my 51���� experiences, I was accepted into a summer research program in my hometown of Pittsburgh, where I continue to work over the summers.” 

In that work, at the Rangos Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children’s Hospital, she studies cell tissue samples in a search toward a cure for Type 1 diabetes — an autoimmune disorder where the human body stops producing insulin — that afflicts her younger brothers and so many others.

Applications of ALPhA research span multiple topics, from studying nuclear reactions in stars to investigating potential medical treatments and diagnostic methods using isotopes. 

“We’re a small cog in the machine but we’re building models and contributing data that’s also helping other researchers,” Votaw said. “What I discovered most is that research is incredibly collaborative, and no contribution is insignificant.”

In late 2023, he and his research partner Andrew Jones, also a senior, were among several 51���� students presenting their work at the American Physical Society Division of Nuclear Physics and the Physical Society of Japan’s joint meeting and conference in Hawaii. They had created a machine learning model designed to identify and categorize nuclear reactions.

Such conferences give researchers at all levels — undergraduates though senior scientists — the chance to connect and learn about the work being done in the field at research facilities around the world.

“Research is for everyone who has a genuine curiosity, tenacity and a willingness to go after a problem, even when it doesn’t pan out,” Ramanujan said. “It develops meta-cognitive skills; it helps communications skills when students write and present their work. It helps them learn to cope with ambiguity. These are all things you’re going to need in whatever career you go into.”

And it’s not only students learning.

“They’re teaching us,” Kuchera said. “I’m always learning from our student researchers. I value the research we do, and it means a lot that the college values our work.”