UT Commits $50 Million to Transdisciplinary Cluster Hires
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is committing $50 million over the next five years to recruit 44 top-tier research faculty members across multiple disciplines to address some of the most pressing and complex challenges of our time. It is the largest faculty hiring initiative in recent UT history. These hirings represent seven research clusters:
- Precision Health and Environment
- Food and Nutrition Security
- Bioinformatics, Genomics, and Quantitative-based Solutions for Food Security
- Advancing UT’s National Prominence in Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry
- Science-Informed Artificial Intelligence
- Foundational Artificial Intelligence – Closing the Gap to Human Intelligence
- Future Mobility
Future Mobility Cluster led by Kevin Heaslip (Director, Center for Transportation Research, Tickle College of Engineering)
Collaborators: College of Arts and Sciences, Haslam College of Business, Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, Tickle College of Engineering
As the automotive and transportation industries continue to undergo rapid technological change, there is a need to meet the heightened demand for advanced mobility research and development initiatives. This cluster will impact two major areas — the greening of transportation and the building of a green transportation economy that will drive economic growth for the state. Faculty will explore, invent and validate new technologies, processes, systems and services that are responsive to mobility consumer and industry needs; prepare a workforce to contribute to Tennessee’s mobility economy through education, reskilling and upskilling; and create shared research testbeds and facilities that support developing and deploying cutting-edge mobility solutions in real-world environments.