HPU faculty hold more than $40 million in confirmed active federal research grants across 8 or more principal investigators, awarded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education.

These grants are not given to institutions. They are competed for. Each application is reviewed by a panel of external scientific peers who evaluate the proposal’s merit, the investigator’s credentials, and the likelihood of meaningful results. Receiving a grant from NIH, NSF, or the U.S. Department of Education is a direct judgment by external scientific reviewers that the faculty member and the proposed research meet a national standard of quality.

The Stout School of Education alone accounts for more than $24 million across three federal awards. See the full grant portfolio in the evidence section above.

Named active federal grants at HPU include awards across five agencies and seven principal investigators:

These are confirmed awards with named HPU principal investigators, not projected or pending figures.

The Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant is a competitive U.S. Department of Education program that funds the development of principal and central-office school leaders at scale. HPU’s Stout School of Education received a $10.4M SEED grant under Dean Amy Holcombe. Six universities were selected nationally. HPU was the only institution in North Carolina chosen.

The SEED grant is awarded through external competitive review. The U.S. Department of Education evaluates applicants on the strength of the proposed program, the institution’s capacity to deliver results, and the likelihood of measurable impact on educator effectiveness. Selection by an independent federal agency through this process is a direct external assessment of the Stout School of Education’s capacity to produce meaningful outcomes.

Combined with the two Teacher Quality Partnership grants ($4M in 2018, $9.8M in 2022), the Stout School of Education holds more than $24 million in total federal awards, representing three separate competitive award decisions by the same federal agency across four years.

NIH and NSF grants are not distributed to institutions. They are competed for through a peer review process in which external scientific experts evaluate each proposal against a national field of applicants. The National Institutes of Health funds less than 20% of applications it receives. The National Science Foundation acceptance rate is similarly selective. A faculty member who holds an active NIH or NSF grant has had their research proposal, their scientific credentials, and their institution’s capacity evaluated and validated by external peers in their field.

This matters for students in two ways. First, faculty with active federal grants are working researchers. They are advancing their fields, not simply teaching from textbooks. Second, the grant funding creates infrastructure: research equipment, laboratory resources, and in many cases, positions for undergraduate students on active research teams.

Dr. David Sinacore’s $3.9M NIH/NIDDK grant runs as a multi-site study with Wake Forest School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, and UC San Francisco. That collaboration structure reflects how external institutions assess HPU’s research capacity: as a peer, not a peripheral participant.

The Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Most-Cited Scientists database is an annually published list of the world’s most highly cited researchers, compiled by Stanford University and Elsevier. Approximately 205,000 scientists appear on the list globally. Placement is determined entirely by citation impact metrics produced by research the scientist has already published. HPU has no role in compiling or determining inclusion.

Two HPU faculty members, Dr. Kevin Ford and Dr. David Sinacore, both in Physical Therapy, have appeared on this list for four consecutive years, 2022 through 2025. Citation impact rankings do not distinguish by Carnegie Classification. A researcher at a regional college is measured by the same global citation standard as a researcher at an R1 university.

Dr. Ford has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers. Dr. Sinacore leads the $3.9M multi-site NIH study in collaboration with Wake Forest School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, and UC San Francisco.

HPU faculty publish in the field-specific top journals of their disciplines, including Nature Communications, The Astrophysical Journal, PNAS, and Science. Each of these is peer-reviewed by external scientific reviewers who evaluate submissions against the standards of their field before acceptance. Rejection rates at these journals are high.

Publication venue matters because it is a form of external quality review. Any institution can produce an internal report. A paper accepted in Nature Communications has passed independent scientific evaluation by external experts who had no relationship with the institution submitting it. The journal did not know or care whether the submitting author was at HPU or at a National University.

Specific recent publications: Dr. Scott Hemby published in Nature Communications in 2024 on iboga alkaloids and opioid use disorder treatment, supported by his active NIH/NIDA R01 grant. Dr. Nathan Barlow published in The Astrophysical Journal with four HPU undergraduates as named co-authors, supported by his NSF grant.

HPU undergraduates join active, federally funded faculty research teams as working participants, not observers. In summer 2024, two HPU undergraduates joined Dr. David Sinacore’s $3.9M NIH research team. Four HPU undergraduates are named co-authors on papers published in The Astrophysical Journal by Dr. Nathan Barlow, with three of those four serving as first authors on separate papers. Six students and alumni are named co-inventors on HPU’s first patent, awarded November 2024.

The HPU Office of Research coordinates undergraduate research participation across programs. The 2025 High-PURCS Symposium hosted 419 student participants presenting 241 research projects across 31 disciplines, mentored by 90 faculty members. Full undergraduate research outcomes are on the Student Achievement page.

The Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award is granted annually by the Dreyfus Foundation to faculty at undergraduate-focused institutions who demonstrate exceptional promise in both research and teaching. The award criteria specify that it is reserved for undergraduate-focused institutions. Only 8 recipients are selected nationally each year. It carries a $75,000 grant.

Dr. Heather Miller, Chemistry, received this award in 2023. HPU’s first. Her NIH-funded research on MRSA antibiotic resistance led directly to HPU’s first patent in 2024, with six student and alumni co-inventors listed.

The Dreyfus award matters for what it says about the HPU model specifically: an independent private foundation selected Dr. Miller, by name, from a national field of candidates at institutions with the same primary undergraduate teaching mission. The award design assumes that research excellence and undergraduate teaching are not in tension at the right institution. The Dreyfus Foundation’s selection of HPU faculty validates that assumption from the outside.

The faculty who hold the NIH grants teach the courses. The same researcher publishing in Nature Communications is in the classroom. Undergraduates join those research teams and earn named co-authorship on peer-reviewed publications while still enrolled. The pathway from “faculty holds $40M in competitive federal grants” to “students achieve 100% licensure pass rates” runs through the same people.

The five programs where HPU has achieved 100% first-time pass rates on national licensure exams are taught by faculty with active federal grants, independent professional accreditations, and records of publication in top peer-reviewed journals. Those outcomes did not happen independently of this faculty research record. They are produced by it.

The connection is also documented externally. The Council on Undergraduate Research awarded HPU its 2025 Campus-Wide Award for Undergraduate Research Accomplishments (AURA), the CUR’s highest institutional recognition. That is an independent national body evaluating the integration of faculty research and undergraduate education at HPU and concluding that the integration is real and exceptional.

See the full licensure outcomes on the Licensure Pass Rates page and undergraduate research achievements on the Student Achievement page.

The Carnegie Classification that places HPU in the Regional College category reflects primary institutional mission: HPU’s primary focus is undergraduate and professional education. It does not describe the research activity level of HPU’s faculty.

The research activity is documented by sources independent of HPU. Federal agencies do not award $40 million in competitive grants to faculty because of an institution’s Carnegie category. They award grants because the proposals, the investigators, and the research plans met the peer review standard. Dr. Sinacore’s NIH multi-site study runs alongside Wake Forest School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, and UC San Francisco because those institutions agreed to collaborate as peers. Stanford University and Elsevier determine Top 2% Most-Cited Scientist placement by citation impact, with no Carnegie Classification adjustment.

The Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award is specifically designed for faculty at undergraduate-focused institutions. The Dreyfus Foundation created it based on the premise that research excellence and undergraduate teaching are not only compatible but mutually reinforcing at the right institution. When Dreyfus selects an HPU faculty member, they are selecting the model, not despite it.

Regional College classification describes mission. The $40M+ in competitive grants, two globally top-2%-cited faculty, and publications in Nature Communications and The Astrophysical Journal describe faculty research activity. Both are accurate and neither contradicts the other.

National funding agencies, international citation databases, peer-reviewed journals, private foundations, and external scientific collaborators have each independently evaluated HPU’s faculty and reached the same conclusion: this is active research faculty.

NIH and NSF awarded grants to HPU investigators through competitive peer review. Stanford University and Elsevier placed two HPU faculty in the global top 2% of cited scientists for four consecutive years. Nature Communications accepted Dr. Hemby’s work on opioid use disorder treatment. The Astrophysical Journal published Dr. Barlow’s research alongside four HPU undergraduates as named co-authors. The Dreyfus Foundation selected Dr. Miller as one of 8 Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award recipients nationally. Wake Forest School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, and UC San Francisco joined Dr. Sinacore’s NIH study as multi-site collaborators. The Council on Undergraduate Research named HPU the 2025 AURA recipient nationally.

Each of those assessments was made independently by an organization with no institutional interest in the outcome. All of them point in the same direction.

The most reliable measures of faculty research quality are verified by sources independent of the institution. Each of the following can be confirmed by contacting the relevant external organization: