Five Houston universities were named among the Carnegie Foundation's top tier of research institutions. Photo courtesy UH.

The American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching recently released its new Research Activity Designations, which named several Houston universities to its Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production, or R1, tier.

The R1 status means that universities meet $50 million in total annual research spending and 70 research doctorates awarded annually. This year, 187 institutions were given the designation, according to the Carnegie Foundation. 

The 2025 categorizations were made using an updated methodology to be "more reflective of the wide range of higher education institutions across America and how well they serve their students," according to a release. Until now, research activity was included in the foundations' Basic Classifications. This year was the first year the Research Activity Designations were published separately.

“These updates to the Carnegie Classifications are the first step to bring a decades-old system into the 21st century. We are expanding our recognition of the range of ways colleges and universities engage in research and development,” Timothy F.C. Knowles, president of the Carnegie Foundation, said in the release. “And we are taking the guesswork out of what it takes to be recognized as an R1 institution. Over time, this will be good for the sector, for scholarship, for policymakers and for students.”

Here are the Houston institutions to receive the R1 designation:

  • Baylor College of Medicine
  • Rice University
  • The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
  • The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
  • University of Houston

The foundation also released new Student Access and Earnings Classifications, which honor colleges that serve a student body representative of their local community and help achieve competitive post-graduation earnings.

UH was the only Houston college to earn the Opportunity College & University – Higher Access, Higher Earnings (OCU) designation, and was one of only 21 universities in the country to earn it in addition to the R1 status for research.

“Maintaining our new Opportunity College and University designation reflects our unwavering commitment to access and economic mobility for all students, while our R1 research status speaks to the strength of our faculty and the transformative scholarship happening on our campus,” UH president Renu Khator said in a news release.

Just 16 percent of U.S. colleges and universities received the OCU designation. The classification comes from publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and the U.S. Census Bureau. The classification considers the percentage of Pell Grant recipients, the number of underrepresented students enrolled, the median undergraduate earnings eight years after enrollment and other factors.

“These recognitions help tell the full story of our institution’s impact,” Diane Z. Chase, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at UH, added in the release. “UH is a powerhouse for ideas, innovation and opportunity. We are changing lives through discovery, access and economic mobility—not only for our students, but for the communities we serve.”

Comparatively, Rice earned a Lower Access, Higher Earnings designation. The other Houston universities were not classified in the Student Access and Earnings Classifications.

In 2024, Rice University was one of 25 U.S. colleges and universities to receive the first Carnegie Leadership for Public Purpose Classification. The classification highlights colleges that have committed to “campus-wide efforts to advance leadership in pursuit of public goods like justice, equity, diversity and liberty.” Read more here.

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Houston startup funding surpasses $1B in 2025 despite national slowdown

by the numbers

Houston-area startups raised more than $1 billion in venture capital during the first half of 2025 — almost double the haul for the first half of last year.

According to the new PitchBook-NCVA Venture Monitor, Houston-area startups raised $417.2 million in the second quarter of this year, compared with $281 million during the same period last year. In the first quarter of 2025, local startups collected $607.5 million in venture capital, compared with $281 million during the same period a year earlier.

Based on those figures, Houston-area startups picked up slightly over $1 billion in VC during the first half of this year, compared with $535 million in the first half of 2024.

Nationally, startups gained almost $70 billion in VC in the second quarter, down 25 percent from the same period a year ago, the PitchBook-NCVA Venture Monitor says.

Nizar Tarhuni, executive vice president of research and market intelligence at PitchBook, explained that “the VC landscape continues to navigate a fragile recovery” and is constrained by economic uncertainty.

However, startups in certain sectors are poised to attract a great deal of attention and venture capital over the next several years, according to the report.

“Companies operating in AI, national security, defense tech, fintech, and crypto — sectors aligned with the administration’s priorities — are attracting disproportionately more investor interest, and this trend will likely continue throughout President Donald Trump’s term,” the report says.

The AI sector accounted for 64 percent of VC deal value in the first half of 2025, according to the report.

Houston space companies land $150M NASA contract for vehicles and robots

space simulations

Houston-based MacLean Engineering and Applied Technology Services LLC, known as METECS, has received a five-year contract from NASA to develop simulations and software services for space-based vehicles and robots, with a maximum value of $150 million.

Two other Houston-area companies, Tietronix Software Inc. and Vedo Systems LLC, were assigned as subcontractors for the award.

"This award is a strong testament to NASA’s continued trust in the quality of our work and their confidence in our ongoing support of the human spaceflight program," John MacLean, president of METECS said in a release.

According to NASA, the awardees are tasked with providing:

  • Simulation and software services for space-based vehicle models and robotic manipulator systems
  • Human biomechanical representations for analysis and development of countermeasure devices
  • Guidance, navigation, and control of space-based vehicles for all flight phases
  • Space-based vehicle on-board computer systems simulations of flight software systems
  • Astronomical object surface interaction simulation of space-based vehicles
  • Graphics support for simulation visualization and engineering analysis
  • Ground-based and onboarding systems to support human-in-the-loop training

The contract is called Simulations and Advanced Software Services II (SASS II), and begins in October. This is the second time METECS has received the SASS award. The first also ran for five years and launched in 2020, according to USASpending.gov.

METECS specializes in simulation, software, robotics and systems analysis. It has previously supported NASA programs, including Orion, EHP, HLS, Lunar Gateway and Artemis. It also serves the energy, agriculture, education and construction sectors.

Tietronix Software has won numerous awards from NASA. Most recently, it won the NASA JSC Exceptional Software Award (2017). Some of its other customers include Houston Independent School District, Baylor College of Medicine, DARPA and Houston Methodist.

Video Systems offers software for implementing human-rated, AI and autonomous systems, as well as engineering services to address the needs of spaceflight and defense. The company has previously worked with NASA and METECS, as well as Axiom Space and defense contractor Lockheed Martin.

The three companies are headquartered near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.