Rising research expenditures, federal investment, and new NIH resources expand opportunities for faculty and students
Marian University’s research enterprise continues to accelerate, marked by rising research expenditures, increased federal investment, and new national research resources that expand opportunities for faculty and students.
Marian reported $8.748 million in research and development expenditures for fiscal year 2025, while externally funded research and development increased 27% from the previous year, from $2.071 million to $2.648 million. Much of that growth was driven by increased federal investment in Marian research.
The growth comes as Marian advances toward Carnegie R2 status in 2028 and develops long-term plans to reach R1 status as early as 2034. The trajectory builds on Marian’s 2025 Carnegie classification as a Research Colleges and Universities institution and on its distinction as the nation’s first Franciscan Research University.
“Marian is building the kind of research environment where our scholars can take on bigger questions and compete at a higher level,” said Jonathan Lowery, Ph.D., Associate Provost for Research and Dean of Graduate Affairs.
Expanding Access to National Research Resources
One example of that expanding research capacity is Marian’s participation in the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program, one of the nation’s largest health research initiatives.
Marian faculty, staff, and students now have access to the program’s secure Researcher Workbench, which enables researchers to explore health information from people across the United States and conduct large-scale studies in areas such as public health, medicine, genetics, and health disparities.
Guang Xu, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Public Health & Biostatistics in the Tom and Julie Wood College of Osteopathic Medicine, brought the opportunity to Marian. Xu regularly uses the Researcher Workbench and recognized its potential for researchers across the university.
“Access to All of Us gives our faculty and students another powerful tool to pursue meaningful discovery and contribute to work that improves lives and serves the common good,” Lowery said.
“One of the most exciting things about All of Us is that it puts an extraordinary national research resource within reach of our faculty and students,” Xu said. “Whether someone is an experienced researcher or beginning to develop a research question, there are opportunities to use these data to explore meaningful questions about health and improve our understanding of the communities we serve.”
Marian’s participation also creates additional opportunities to collaborate with researchers and institutions beyond Indiana, supporting new studies, publications, and externally funded research.
Building a Research Culture
The growth extends beyond research expenditures. Since fiscal year 2022, the number of Marian faculty and staff pursuing external funding has increased by 88%, and the annual value of external proposals submitted has grown from approximately $2.8 million to more than $15 million. Marian researchers have also published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles annually for five consecutive years.
For students, the expanding research enterprise creates more opportunities to work alongside faculty scholars, contribute to discovery, and develop the skills needed to address complex problems in healthcare, education, science, and other fields.
The growth also advances a broader institutional goal: pairing rising research intensity with Marian’s Catholic and Franciscan mission and its commitment to excellence in learning, human flourishing, and service to the common good.