Morgan State moves up research classification rankings

Morgan State University has moved up a level in a prestigious ranking of research universities.

The Baltimore university has been elevated to R2 status in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Morgan State is among only 130 universities nationwide to earn the R2 ranking, the second highest status in the classification and an indication of "high research activity."

The university has held the R3 status — the lowest ranking — since 2006 but has been working toward elevating its status for the last few years. In December, President David Wilson included achieving the R2 ranking on his list of five-year goals for the university.

Morgan State was recently re-designated by state legislators as Maryland’s preeminent public urban research university and brought in about $34.5 million in government funding for sponsored research in 2017.

Morgan State also inked its first tech transfer deal last year and recently launched a Cybersecurity Assurance and Policy (CAP) Center, which will provide the U.S. intelligence community with knowledge, methodology, solutions and skilled cybersecurity engineers.

The university has also been expanding its research facilities with the opening of a new behavioral and social sciences building; a new Center for Built Environment and Infrastructure Studies building and plans for a heath and human services building and a science and innovation complex.

“The elevation to R2 ranking is exciting news for Morgan as we continue to advance in our research mission, further demonstrating our value as a hub for innovative research, critical study and development of solutions to the toughest problems of our community,” Wilson said in a statement. “We announced this reclassification as a major goal within our Strategic Plan, and I thank our dedicated faculty, administrators and graduate students for achieving it, by securing funding to conduct unprecedented levels of research at our university.”

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