Heciel Nieves Bonilla, News Editor
Andrew Kerley, Executive Editor
VCU is aiming to “not just be a national, but an international hub for research and innovation,” according to P. Srirama Rao, the university’s vice president for research and innovation.
In his annual State of the Research address, Rao outlined a lofty goal for the university — to reach $1 billion in sponsored research funding. The announcement comes amid an academic year packed with new grants for interdisciplinary studies, new and reworked minors and consolidated programs.
As VCU has put more money into research and shifted its branding accordingly, some students and faculty have pointed to the campus possibly shifting away from its identity as a hub for the arts and humanities.
VCU is ranked No. 46 nationally in research spending among public research universities by the National Science Foundation — yet it is ranked No. 72 in public schools overall by U.S. News & World Report.
VCU’s research spending, and status as an R1, “very high research activity” university, is exceptionally high for a school of its prestige.
VCU has a guaranteed admission policy for students with a high school GPA of 3.5 or above, per a previous report by The CT. The school is inching toward hitting 30,000 total students.
For comparison, James Madison University has 21,112 students and is an R2 university, or a “high research activity” university; The University of Virginia — considered by many to be the commonwealth’s most prestigious place of learning — has 26,685 students and is an R1 university.
Rao pointed out that VCU’s research enterprise has continued to grow, including a 10% increase in federal funding in 2025, despite broader federal research funding cuts.
The university previously ended Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs and changed gender-affirming care policies in its hospitals to avoid funding cuts by the Trump administration, according to previous reports by The CT.
Interdisciplinary initiatives, ‘convergence grants’
VCU’s Office of the Provost announced in March a request for proposals for “convergence grants” — through which faculty can pitch their ideas for cooperation with other departments on research for up to $10,000 of funding.
The provost’s office will accept proposals until April 30.
The research funding must lie within five themes where departments could collaborate — AI, mental health, health outcomes, sustainability and neuroscience.
The themes are meant to “unite traditionally siloed academic disciplines,” according to Tim Luckritz Marquis, the assistant director of the grants. He stated he has seen “great enthusiasm” from faculty for the program, which is run through the existing VCU Convergence umbrella.
Cognitive neuroscience is already built upon cross-departmental work according to neurosurgery department chair David Limbrick, who believes the convergence collaboration can help nurture a world-class neuroscience program at VCU.
“Believe it or not, there are hundreds of VCU faculty with interests and expertise spanning the many fields and subfields within neuroscience, from developmental neurobiology to cognitive neuroscience to brain injury and anywhere in between,” Limbrick stated.
Limbrick noted the “commitment to collaboration” in the design of the convergence grants is evident in its requirement that proposals feature “at least 3 VCU faculty from at least two different schools or colleges, with preference given to applications that involve >1 [more than one] VCU campus.”
The convergence grant program builds off of VCU’s emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration — such as the Center for Human Simulation and Patient Safety, through which standardized patients use their theatre backgrounds to help medical students practice their clinical and communication skills.
VCU President Michael Rao emphasized the same things in his state of the university speech, in which he touted VCU and VCU Health’s combined $18.5 billion economic impact on Virginia.
VCU adapts to the AI age
On Feb. 20, VCU Convergence ran an “AI Accelerator Workshop” in the Commons that brought panelists to discuss the confluence of the new set of technologies with business, data, education and health care.
For Limbrick, the conversation is not new — he pointed out that neuroscience was an early adopter of AI technologies, and that his department routinely uses “AI-based technology” to, for example, assist with MRI sequencing and robotics for a precise neurosurgical treatment.
His own lab is currently using AI to research “otherwise undetectable patterns,” employing it in genomics, imaging and other fields to develop distinct categories and treatments for Chiari malformation, a rare disease in which brain tissue extends into the spinal canal.
AI is also a focal point in VCU’s push to encourage interdisciplinary work among students. The university introduced a minor in ‘Practical AI’ in fall 2024 which includes classes in mass communications, mathematics, anthropology, philosophy and computer science.
That minor was joined by an ‘AI studies in humanities and sciences’ minor in 2025, which also includes AI-focused classes taught by professors of several disciplines.
Interdisciplinary Studies associate director Mariah Crilley told VCU News upon the launching of the Practical AI minor and its twin program in immersive reality studies that “every student, regardless of technological skill, has a right and responsibility to learn about AI.”
Unrest among departments
As VCU has bolstered its economic and academic presence further and further, numerous departments in the arts and humanities have complained about their fields getting snubbed.
During a February lecture at the Institute for Contemporary Art, sculpture and extended media professor Lily Cox-Richard led a discussion decrying faculty firings, layoffs and policy changes, according to a previous report by The CT.
It came after VCU’s decision not to renew the contract of the school’s only full-time woodworking professor in the fine arts program — sounding alarms across VCUarts about more niche fields disappearing.
VCU’s academic repositioning has seen a number of departments be combined or reworked to fit new academic and monetary goals.
Underlining the campus-wide changes — the VCU United Campus Workers chapter has been campaigning against increased administrative control and what they see as a breakdown in shared governance between students, faculty and staff.
Their complaints include low pay for graduate students and dwindling faculty in departments like Focused Inquiry.
The union spent the Spring 2026 semester campaigning at the General Assembly for their collective bargaining rights before being snubbed from legislation.
A number of bills impacting VCU — from employee bargaining rights to board of visitors reforms — have moved through the legislature and been subsequently amended by Gov. Abigail Spanberger. Whether they pass, and in what state they do, remains to be seen.