@UGAResearch
IMPACT REPORT 2025

Across its 19 colleges and schools, the University of Georgia conducts research with real, far-reaching impact on modern life. UGA research affects the food you put on your table. It can help you feel better when you wake up in the morning and recover more quickly from disease. It influences where and how you travel, who and what you’ll encounter. At the end of the day, UGA research helps you thrive. We invite you to explore this 2025 Impact Report and learn more about how UGA research touches the world around you.

UGA Research Growth

Increase in R&D Spending

FY 2015-2024

FY24 R&D expenditures

new products to market

UGA economic impact on state of Georgia

Innovation@UGA

Innovation@UGA: By the Numbers

Top 5
new research-based products for 11 consecutive years

200
UGA-based startup companies in the pipeline

117
technology licenses executed with industry partners in FY24

UGA leads the country in new products. Again.

UGA released a record 66 new products in fiscal year 2023, retaining its No. 1 spot in AUTM’s survey of new products based on university research. For nine straight years, UGA has placed in the top two and has never appeared out of the Top 5 in the 11 years that AUTM (formerly the Association of University Technology Managers) has reported the survey.

New leader, capital upgrades for UGA Innovation District

Chris Rhodes has been named the new executive director of the University of Georgia Innovation District, a campus-wide effort to maximize research commercialization and collaboration with industry. The District integrates campus programs offering entrepreneurship coaching and mentorship, accelerator services for early-stage business ideas, training and tools for small businesses, pitch decks and co-working spaces, offices for startups, and community-building activities for entrepreneurs.

The Innovation District’s physical spaces, located at the intersection of UGA’s campus and downtown Athens, also have been upgraded, thanks to a $1.25M grant from the Truist Foundation. In November 2023, representatives from the foundation, Truist Bank, and UGA gathered to dedicate Truist Plaza outside the Delta Innovation Hub. The Hub’s interior also was improved with a foldable glass wall to facilitate the expansion of offerings provided in the facility.

Faculty Honors

Recent National Academy Inductees

Matthew R. Auer – Public Administration & Policy
National Academy of Public Administration (2023)

William D. Branch – Plant Genetics
National Academy of Inventors (2024)

C. Robin Buell – Plant Genetics
National Academy of Sciences (2025)

Aaron P. Mitchell – Molecular Biology
American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2024)

Daniel R. Perez – Veterinary Medicine
National Academy of Sciences (2025)

Gregory H. Robinson – Chemistry
American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2025)

Undergraduate Research

Laura Kate Holden, center, a fourth-year CURO Honors Scholar studying biochemistry and molecular biology, will introduce the keynote speaker and her faculty mentor, Lance Wells, and present her research during the poster session. (Photo by Stephanie Schupska)

Undergraduate research symposium shatters records in 2025

More than 700 undergrads presented their research as part of the 2025 Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities (CURO) Symposium, held in April. The 723 presenters—an increase of 100 students over the previous year—delivered 181 oral presentations and 433 posters at the two-day event. All told, CURO participants representing 200 majors conducted research under the mentorship of 332 faculty members spread across 98 departments.