Momentum can be hard to see while it’s building. It doesn’t always announce itself. More often, it shows up in small ways, a new collaboration taking shape, a conversation that connects ideas across disciplines, or a project that begins to move with greater clarity and purpose.

Across the University of Utah, there is a growing sense that something is shifting. The work is becoming more connected. Efforts are aligning in new ways. And the pace at which ideas move from early exploration toward real-world impact is beginning to accelerate.

You can see it in different ways across campus. In the continued growth of programs like the Startup Launchpad, helping move ideas toward real-world application. In convenings like the recent Quantum Science & Technology Symposium, where emerging areas of leadership are taking shape. And in the recognition of faculty like Ingo Titze, whose work continues to advance both research and its impact.

What makes this moment meaningful is not just the strength of individual research, but how those strengths are coming together. Breakthroughs rarely happen in isolation. They emerge when people, resources, and perspectives are brought into closer alignment, earlier, and more intentionally.

That kind of progress doesn’t happen by accident. It reflects the commitment of researchers, staff, and partners across campus who are building, contributing, and pushing this work forward every day.

Our role in the Office of the Vice President for Research is to support that momentum, to help create the conditions where strong ideas can grow, connect, and move forward with purpose.

We’re encouraged by what we’re seeing, and even more energized by what’s ahead.

Thank you for the work you do to make this possible.

Erin Rothwell, PhD
Vice President for Research