Utah’s Strength in Center Grants—and How We Build Them Together
From the AVPR’s Desk: Utah’s Strength in Center Grants—and How We Build Them Together
One of the most defining features of research at the University of Utah is our ability to work at scale. Time and again, our faculty have demonstrated not only scientific excellence, but also the vision, leadership, and collaborative capacity required to build and sustain major research centers. As I reflect this month, I am struck by how deeply center-scale research is embedded in Utah’s research identity—and by how intentional we have been in supporting faculty who pursue these ambitious opportunities.
A Track Record Built on Trust and Infrastructure
Across the National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), and National Institutes of Health (NIH), the University of Utah maintains a nationally distinctive, mission-aligned research portfolio anchored in large-scale centers, shared research infrastructure, and open experimental testbeds. These are not isolated successes. Collectively, they reflect a consistent institutional model: Utah serves as a trusted steward of complex, multi-institutional research enterprises that enable discovery, translation, workforce development, and deployment at national scale.
This track record matters. It positions Utah faculty as credible leaders when new center opportunities emerge—and it signals to sponsors that Utah can deliver on ambitious, long-term research investments. Below, I highlight some of the amazing centers at the University of Utah.
NSF Centers, Cyberinfrastructure, and Open Testbeds
The University of Utah’s NSF portfolio reflects a nationally distinctive strength in building durable, open, and community-serving research infrastructure. Utah faculty have repeatedly earned NSF’s trust to design, operate, and sustain platforms that advance entire fields—often serving thousands of researchers across institutions, disciplines, and countries.
This portfolio spans foundational science, cyberinfrastructure, open experimental testbeds, and regional innovation. At its core is the Center for Aqueous Supramolecular Chemistry (CASC), a long-standing NSF center advancing foundational chemistry at interfaces with broad relevance to catalysis, molecular recognition, and advanced materials.
Utah is also home to globally significant NSF cyberinfrastructure platforms. CloudLab provides researchers worldwide with bare-metal access for reproducible systems and networking research, while FABRIC – Flexible Array of Bare Metal Elements for Research, Innovation, and Cloud Computing offers a programmable, distributed networking infrastructure enabling experimentation on future internet architectures at unprecedented scale.
In the wireless domain, Utah leads the Platform for Open Wireless Data-driven Experimental Research (POWDER), a city-scale, open-access testbed enabling cutting-edge 5G and 6G experimentation, spectrum sharing, and resilient communications research in partnership with communities and industry.
Utah’s NSF portfolio also reflects a strong commitment to translating research into societal and economic impact. WIRED Global serves as a national hub advancing power grid resilience through integrated research, workforce development, policy, and economic engagement. Complementing this, the NSF FUTURES Engine positions Utah as a regional innovation engine translating sustainability research into deployable solutions through cross-sector partnerships across the U.S. Southwest.
Taken together, these six NSF centers and platforms highlight a defining institutional capability: Utah builds research environments that others rely on—open, scalable, and designed for long-term national service.
DOE Centers and National Energy Infrastructure
Utah’s Department of Energy portfolio is anchored in four center-scale efforts addressing national priorities in energy security, decarbonization, subsurface science, and critical materials. These investments reflect Utah’s long-standing strengths in energy systems, geoscience, and environmental research, as well as our ability to host and operate complex, field-scale research infrastructure.
At the heart of this portfolio is FORGE – Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy, a national geothermal field laboratory enabling controlled subsurface experimentation, technology validation, and workforce training.
Utah also leads DOE investments in fundamental energy science through MUSE – Energy Frontier Research Center, advancing multidisciplinary research across materials science, chemistry, and physics in support of next-generation energy technologies.
In carbon management, Utah plays a central role through CarbonSAFE – Uinta Basin CarbonSAFE II, a large-scale carbon capture and storage project advancing site characterization, infrastructure planning, and deployment pathways critical to U.S. decarbonization goals.
Finally, through the CORE-CM – Regional Critical Minerals Consortium, Utah leads a multi-state effort advancing domestic critical minerals research, processing, and workforce development across the full value chain—supporting national supply-chain resilience.
Collectively, these four DOE centers and consortia underscore Utah’s role as a reliable steward of large, place-based research infrastructure capable of supporting long-term experimentation, cross-sector collaboration, and real-world deployment.
National Leadership Through NIH Centers and Coordinating Roles
Nowhere is Utah’s strength in center-scale research more visible than in our NIH-funded portfolio. Collectively, these programs form a national-scale health research enterprise anchored by federally designated centers, cooperative agreements, and leadership roles in complex, multi-institutional networks.
At the core of this portfolio is the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI), an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center providing integrated research infrastructure and clinical trial leadership at national scale.
Utah leads several national coordinating and data centers, including the HEAL ERN Data Coordinating Resource Center and the Hematology Central Coordinating Center, supporting multi-institutional NIH research networks.
Our NIH portfolio also includes mission-focused centers such as the Utah Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI), the Utah Vision Research Center (UVRC), and the Center for the Structural Biology of HIV Infection, Restriction and Viral Dynamics (CHEETAH), which integrates structural biology, virology, and translational science.
Additional Utah-led NIH centers include the Center for Iron and Heme Disorders (CIHD), the Road to Prevention of Stillbirth Clinical Research Center, and the PDX Trial Center for Breast Cancer Therapy.
Together, these centers reflect Utah’s ability to operate trusted, high-impact research enterprises requiring sustained leadership, coordination, and stewardship.
Supporting Faculty Pursuing Center-Scale Opportunities
Center grants are among the most demanding—and rewarding—forms of research funding. Recognizing this, we have made targeted investments to ensure faculty are supported throughout the process.
The Large Infrastructure Funding Team (LIFT) provides hands-on, end-to-end support for faculty pursuing major center and infrastructure opportunities. Since its launch, LIFT-supported efforts have helped bring approximately $130 million in external funding to the University of Utah.
We have also invested in people. The Research Leadership Academy supports faculty stepping into leadership roles in large-scale research enterprises. The inaugural Academy brought together 30 faculty members from across disciplines.
Complementing these programs are guides and tools for identifying large and center-scale funding opportunities, designed to help faculty map ideas to the right mechanisms and sponsors.
Looking Ahead
Many of today’s most pressing research challenges—across health, energy, climate, computing, and society—require coordinated, sustained effort. Center grants are one of the most powerful ways to organize that work, and the University of Utah is exceptionally well positioned to lead.
If you are exploring a center-scale idea, whether nascent or fully formed, I encourage you to connect early, ask questions, and take advantage of the support available. Utah’s success in this space has always been faculty-driven, built on shared vision and collaboration—and that is exactly how we will continue to grow.
I am deeply proud of what our research community has accomplished, and I am excited about what we will build next—together.
Jakob D. Jensen
Associate Vice President for Research
University of Utah