Dear colleagues and friends,
This spring, I will be sharing three messages — including today’s — featuring new advances in research and scholarship at Marquette University: impressive work on topics such as maternal mental health, stroke rehabilitation, quantum architecture and molecular dynamics, PFAS remediation, secondary school pedagogy innovations and more.
It is also a good time to put research at Marquette in a broader context. As I join university colleagues in beginning to implement a new strategic plan, Guided by Mission, Inspired to Change, we’re building on a foundation established under our previous plan, Beyond Boundaries. That plan had “Research in Action” as one of its five core themes and helped elevate research and scholarship in unprecedented ways. Here are several examples of the considerable momentum we’ve established:
- In 2015, when Marquette President Michael R. Lovell issued a bold challenge to our community — to double research activity at Marquette — the university’s total research expenditures were $25 million. In FY 2022, they were $40.6 million, putting Marquette on track to reach our goal in the next one to two years. Additionally, federally funded research has grown 87% in the last eight years.
- The realization of an idea first proposed by students, the 707 Hub, Marquette’s student makerspace and center for entrepreneurism and social innovation, has been recognized for outstanding student engagement and leadership by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers.
- The Explorer Challenge offers faculty, staff and students the opportunity to compete for funds to implement innovative and entrepreneurial ideas that formerly lacked a path forward. To date, the program has awarded $7.8 million to 100 teams to seed new initiatives that have generated almost $70 million in external revenue, a 790% return on those good ideas.
The collective effect of this research and innovation on students — and on challenges facing our world — makes this progress especially gratifying and makes me excited for the advances that lie ahead as our new plan guides us toward Marquette’s 150th anniversary in 2031.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jeanne M. Hossenlopp
Vice President for Research and Innovation
Marquette University
