Tracking the R1 Chase: NC A&T Clears Both Thresholds as Morgan State Surpasses $100 Million in Research Funding

In February 2025, Howard University regained the Carnegie R1 designation, the highest recognition a research university can receive in the United States. Howard is the only HBCU to have ever held it. But two other institutions are now making serious runs at joining that company. North Carolina A&T State University has already hit both targets that Carnegie looks at, and Morgan State University just posted the biggest research funding year in its history.

Data Driven HBCU has built interactive research dashboards tracking all 14 HBCUs with Carnegie R1 or R2 designations. The numbers tell a story of real, measurable progress. NC A&T’s most recent data shows the university has crossed both of Carnegie’s thresholds for the first time. Morgan’s dashboard shows a school that is well past the research spending mark and closing in on the doctorate count. The next time Carnegie updates its rankings, expected in 2028, both schools could be in contention for a designation that would be historic for the HBCU community.

What R1 Actually Means

Carnegie’s research classification is essentially a national scorecard for how seriously a university invests in research and trains the next generation of researchers. The designation that matters most is R1, which stands for “Very High Research Activity.” For the 2025 classifications, a university had to clear two bars: at least $50 million in research spending and at least 70 students graduating with research-based doctoral degrees.

That second number is more specific than it might sound. Carnegie only counts what are called research doctorates, which are degrees that require students to produce original research, like a Ph.D. in biology or engineering. Medical degrees, law degrees, and pharmacy degrees don’t count, even though those programs are academically rigorous. The focus is on the kind of research that produces new scientific knowledge.

Carnegie doesn’t update these rankings every year. The classifications are published on a three-year cycle. The 2025 edition, announced in February, looked at research spending from fiscal years 2021 through 2023 and doctorate counts from the 2020-21 through 2022-23 academic years. For that cycle, Carnegie measured each school using the higher of its three-year average or its most recent year. That’s the cycle where Howard regained its R1 status, posting just under $85 million in research spending and awarding 96 research doctorates in its most recent year.

The rules tighten going forward. Carnegie has said future releases will use only a three-year average, so a single strong year will no longer be enough on its own. Carnegie has also said thresholds may change, and it will share an updated methodology ahead of each release. The next update is expected in 2028.

The 13 HBCUs That Hold R2 Right Now

Below R1 sits R2, which stands for “High Research Activity.” It is a legitimate and meaningful designation in its own right, recognizing universities that are producing significant doctoral research but fall below the R1 thresholds. For 2025, R2 required at least $5 million in research spending and at least 20 research doctorates. For HBCUs, holding R2 is itself a relatively recent achievement for most of these institutions, and it is the platform from which the R1 chase is being run.

In the 2025 Carnegie cycle, 13 HBCUs received or maintained R2 status: Morgan State University, North Carolina A&T State University, Florida A&M University, Prairie View A&M University, Delaware State University, Jackson State University, Tennessee State University, Virginia State University, Hampton University, South Carolina State University, Clark Atlanta University, Southern University and A&M College, and Texas Southern University. Howard University stands as the only HBCU with an R1 designation. Data Driven HBCU tracks all 14 schools in one place in our Research Hub.

Why the Designation Changes Everything

R1 is more than a ranking. For universities pursuing it, the designation opens doors in ways that reach far beyond prestige.

Federal research agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, direct the vast majority of their large-scale grant funding to research-intensive institutions. R1 status signals to grant reviewers that a university has the infrastructure, the faculty, and the track record to execute complex, multi-year research projects. That signal matters in competitive funding environments, and it compounds over time: more grants fund more researchers, who produce more findings, who attract more grants.

The private sector pays close attention to Carnegie classifications as well. Companies looking to partner with universities on applied research, funded studies, or joint development projects use R1 status as a first filter. Those sponsored research agreements bring in direct revenue and often give universities a share of any resulting patents. Technology transfer, the process of licensing university-developed inventions to industry, becomes significantly more active at R1 institutions. For HBCUs, which have historically been underrepresented in that ecosystem, R1 status opens the door to a revenue stream that most have never had meaningful access to.

The designation also reshapes a university’s ability to recruit. Top faculty researchers choose institutions where they can pursue serious work, and R1 status signals that the resources and peer environment are there to support it. Graduate students, who often do the hands-on research that drives an institution’s output, make similar calculations. The classification creates a reinforcing cycle: the designation attracts talent, talent generates research, and research generates the data that sustains the designation.

NC A&T: Both Bars Cleared

When Carnegie evaluated A&T for the 2025 rankings, research spending was not the problem. A&T spent $40.8 million in FY2021, $47.9 million in FY2022, and $62.3 million in FY2023. That works out to a three-year average of $50.3 million, and the most recent year alone cleared the bar by more than $12 million.

The doctorate count is where A&T fell short. The university awarded 64, 69, and 68 research doctorates over those three years. Its three-year average was 67, and its best figure, 68 in the most recent year, was two short of 70.

Fiscal year 2024 was the year everything came together. A&T recorded $81.8 million in research expenditures and awarded 72 research doctorates, clearing both of the 2025 thresholds in a single year for the first time. Because Carnegie has said future releases will use only a three-year average, the next evaluation will depend on A&T sustaining those numbers across a full three-year window. The full four-year spending and doctorate trend for NC A&T is available in our research dashboard.

The university acknowledged this milestone directly. When A&T announced its new Ph.D. program in bioengineering on June 8, 2026, the university stated plainly that it “now exceeds criteria for that designation, which it is expected to receive in 2028, making it the first public HBCU to be so classified.”

That bioengineering doctorate is itself a milestone. A&T will be the first HBCU to offer a standalone Ph.D. in the field, continuing a streak that began when A&T launched the first HBCU undergraduate bioengineering program in 2010 and the first master’s program in 2011. The new program focuses on areas like neurotechnology, neural engineering, and cellular and systems engineering, all fields with direct connections to healthcare and biotechnology research.

A&T’s research funding has also held steady despite some real pressure. In fiscal year 2025, the university’s faculty pulled in $96.2 million in research contracts and grants. That came even as the federal government terminated $24 million in research projects at A&T during the same year, part of a broader wave of federal cuts that hit research universities across the country. Over the three years before that, A&T researchers had brought in nearly $350 million in external research support.

Morgan State: Building Both Sides of the Equation

Morgan State is approaching R1 from a different angle than A&T. The Baltimore university was once close on the doctorate count and has since grown its research spending past the $50 million mark. The challenge now is getting both numbers above the thresholds at the same time and keeping them there.

Under the 2025 rules, Morgan came up short on both measures. On the doctorate side, the university graduated 71 research doctoral students in FY2021 and 70 in FY2022, but the count dropped to 59 in FY2023. That left Morgan with a three-year average of about 67 and a most recent year of 59, both below 70.

On the spending side, Morgan’s research expenditures grew steadily but were not yet at the R1 level. Morgan spent $20.6 million in FY2021, $29.5 million in FY2022, and $43.9 million in FY2023, a three-year average of $31.3 million.

Since then, Morgan has crossed the $50 million spending mark for the first time, reaching $55.5 million in FY2024. Doctorates came in at 62 that year. With Carnegie moving to a three-year average only, Morgan will need to keep spending above $50 million and push its doctorate count back above 70 across a full three-year window. Morgan State’s full research spending and doctorate history are in our dashboard.

Morgan’s research funding has kept growing. In fiscal year 2025, its sponsored research portfolio reached $104.4 million in total contracts and grants, a new institutional record. That figure counts awards rather than the annual research spending Carnegie measures, so it is not directly comparable to the spending numbers above.

There are signs of real movement. Morgan awarded 60 doctoral degrees at its Spring 2025 commencement and another 34 at its Fall 2025 ceremony in December, for a combined total of 94 doctoral degrees in calendar year 2025. Morgan’s own announcement called that combined total “a milestone that further solidifies Morgan’s progress toward achieving the coveted R1 classification.” At Spring 2026 commencement, more than 80 additional doctoral candidates received degrees, part of the school’s highest total degree production in its history (nearly 1,900 graduates across all levels in the 2025-26 academic year).

An important distinction: Carnegie counts only research and scholarship doctorates toward the R1 threshold, excluding professional degrees like the Doctor of Social Work. The research doctorate subset of Morgan’s growing doctoral output is the specific number Carnegie will evaluate. Morgan’s FY2024 research doctorate count, the most recent figure in our dashboard, was 62, up from 59 the year before.

Morgan President David K. Wilson has publicly set 2030 as his goal for R1 status, though the university’s own R1 progress page notes it has “positioned itself to achieve the designation sooner than anticipated” given the growth in its research portfolio. Founded in 1867, Morgan is Maryland’s Preeminent Public Urban Research University and the only institution in the country whose entire campus has been designated a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

A Coalition Behind the Push

Both A&T and Morgan are founding members of the Association of HBCU Research Institutions (AHRI), which launched on April 29, 2026. The coalition was formed specifically to help HBCUs grow their research programs and, ultimately, increase the number of HBCUs that reach R1 status.

AHRI’s 14 full member institutions include Howard University, which holds the R1 designation it regained in 2025, along with 13 R2 HBCUs. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore participates as an Affiliate Partner. Wilson serves as AHRI’s inaugural board chairman. Harold L. Martin Sr., chancellor emeritus of North Carolina A&T, was one of the founding collaborators who helped build the organization from the ground up in 2023.

AHRI is housed alongside the Association of American Universities and is backed by a $1 million grant from Harvard’s Legacy of Slavery Initiative. Harvard’s research office is also providing direct technical assistance to member institutions. Together, AHRI’s member institutions account for half of all competitively awarded federal research funding that goes to HBCUs.

“The formation of the Association of HBCU Research Institutions represents a decisive step forward, bringing together leading institutions with a unified voice to advance discovery, expand capacity, and confront the complex challenges of our time,” Wilson said at the launch.

The 2028 Carnegie update will be the first real test of whether that momentum has translated into a new designation. For A&T, the data already on the books makes a strong case. For Morgan, doctoral production over the next few years will be the deciding factor. Track all 14 HBCU research programs side by side in the Data Driven HBCU Research Hub.

Update (June 10, 2026): This article has been revised to reflect NSF HERD Survey expenditure data, which is the source Carnegie uses for its Research Activity Designations. An earlier version cited IPEDS Finance figures, which measure institutional research expenses differently. The corrections affect the spending figures cited for both NC A&T and Morgan State across all four fiscal years. The most significant change affects the Morgan State section: HERD data shows Morgan’s research expenditures were $20.6 million (FY2021), $29.5 million (FY2022), $43.9 million (FY2023), and $55.5 million (FY2024), meaning Morgan crossed the $50 million spending threshold for the first time in FY2024, not in prior years as previously stated. The section has been rewritten accordingly. Doctorate counts were not materially affected by the correction.

Update (October 20, 2026): This article has been revised to correct how Carnegie measures schools against the R1 thresholds. An earlier version stated that each year in the evaluation window had to clear both thresholds independently. For the 2025 designations, Carnegie used the higher of a three-year average or the most recent year, and it has said future releases will use only a three-year average. The NC A&T and Morgan State sections have been updated accordingly. A&T’s 2025 result is unchanged: its spending cleared $50 million, but its doctorate count fell short of 70.

Research expenditure figures in this article come from the NSF Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey, which is the data source Carnegie uses for its Research Activity Designations. HERD figures differ from the research expense line in the IPEDS Finance survey; both are federal data products but they measure R&D activity differently. Doctorate counts reflect only research and scholarship degrees as defined by the IPEDS Completions Survey. Sponsored research totals cited for NC A&T and Morgan State (FY2025) represent contracts and grants awarded, as reported by each institution, and are distinct from HERD expenditure figures.