The University of Alabama at Birmingham has accepted an invitation to join the Association of American Universities, becoming the first and only institution in the state to earn membership in the elite research consortium. UAB joined Georgetown University as the newest additions, bringing the group's roster to 73 research universities across the United States and Canada.
UAB President Ray L. Watts, who has led the university since 2013, described the invitation as an honor. “Being asked to join the AAU is an honor that recognizes the great work and results driven by UAB's talented faculty and staff,” Watts said, according to UAB. As ABC 33/40 reported, UAB was one of two institutions invited to join the AAU that week, with Georgetown University also accepting an invitation.
AAU membership recognizes leading research universities in the United States and Canada based on excellence in research, scholarship and education, per the university's announcement. Membership is invitation-only and is based on an extensive set of quantitative indicators that assess the breadth and quality of a university's research and education programs, alongside a qualitative review process.
Research Spending More Than Doubled Over a Decade
UAB's own numbers help explain the invitation. According to the university, UAB's annual research expenditures grew from $379 million in 2013 to more than $915 million today. That growth tracks with rising research expenditures over Watts's tenure.
UAB's annual economic impact climbed from an estimated $4.6 billion in 2008 to $12.1 billion in 2022. Watts has also pointed to growth in clinical research specifically, telling AL.com in 2023 that “since I became president of UAB in 2013, we have tripled our clinical trial expenditures.”
What AAU Membership Means for the Birmingham Campus
The scale of UAB's broader footprint is part of what distinguishes its application. The university describes itself as Alabama's largest employer, with more than 37,000 employees across the university and its Health System, which includes 15 hospitals and the fifth-largest hospital in the United States. UAB also offers more than 180 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, professional and online degree programs.
Membership in the AAU carries weight beyond prestige. Nationally, AAU universities in the United States award 45 percent of the country's research doctorates and receive 59 percent of federal funds for academic research and development, according to the Association of American Universities. The organization has extended only a handful of invitations over the past decade, according to Higher Ed Dive, which reported that the group's most recent expansion before this one, in 2023, added six schools — Arizona State University, George Washington University, the University of California, Riverside, the University of Miami, the University of Notre Dame and the University of South Florida — bringing membership to 71 at the time.
A Shared Moment With Georgetown
Georgetown's own announcement confirmed it was invited to the AAU alongside UAB, describing the association as comprising 69 universities in the U.S. and two in Canada before the two new additions. Georgetown noted its university research expenditures topped $337 million in fiscal year 2023, a figure well below UAB's reported spending but still enough to clear the bar for membership in the association's qualitative and quantitative review.
The AAU's own history page states that membership “grew slowly over the years and now stands at 69,” referring to 69 U.S. universities plus two Canadian institutions, or 71 members total. UAB's accomplishment stands alone in one respect: no other Alabama university has earned a seat in the organization.
