The University of Texas at San Antonio has added another initiative in its quest to become a Tier One Research university. With the multi-million dollar Goldstar Project, the university hopes to increase its research staff.
The project's goal is to hire 60 new research professionals over the next four years through a $40 million campaign. UTSA President Ricardo Romo says there are 1,000 facility at UTSA currently, 600 of which are researchers.
“We looked at what other campuses are doing of a similar size and reputation, and [thought] we’re going to have to step it up here,” Romo said. “We’re going to keep this race for Tier-One competitive. Otherwise we’ll be left in the dust.”
Earlier this year, UTSA’s cyber security program was ranked number one in the country by a Hewlett-Packard survey.
“That’s the first time UTSA has ever gotten a number one ranking,” he said. “How did we get there? What was the process? We clearly know how we did it. It was hiring top researchers and scholars over the last ten years. We didn’t hire many, we probably hired five or six, and those five or six enabled us to move from number twenty-five in America to number one."
The university plans to hire new researchers in cloud computing, advanced materials, big data, bio medicine, and sustainable communities. As part of Goldstar, research funding will go from $50 million to $75 million over five years. New graduate students will also be recruited.
