I am pleased to share exciting updates on our Recruiting Innovative Scholars for Excellence (RISE) 100 program. Last year, we announced the launch of RISE 100 and our commitment to bring 100 new faculty to UTA to support our research and innovation efforts. This initiative is also an important part of our newly launched strategic plan, UTA 2030: Shared Dreams, Bright Future, and will play a critical role in helping us achieve the big goal we have to be an internationally recognized leader in research, scholarship, and innovation.
We announced last fall that we would begin our efforts with Phase One by authorizing 11 positions to support current enrollment growth, all of which are under recruitment. We also authorized 10 positions for Target of Excellence hires and so far the RISE 100 committee has received 21 nominations, six of which have received a positive recommendation from the committee and an authorization to search from the provost. The RISE 100 committee continues to review nominations as they are received. We are pursuing four hires each in the brain health, semiconductors, and community engaged research clusters. We also are currently in the process of inviting finalists to campus for our first set of brain health cluster hires. In the semiconductors and community engaged research clusters, we are currently recruiting candidates and are in the early stages of reviewing applications.
Phase Two expands UTA’s capacity to pursue research priorities defined in our UTA 2030 strategic plan, and the RISE 100 committee has identified five cluster proposals out of 10 received that have been invited for a second phase of committee review: artificial intelligence, sustainable battery science, synergies for sustainability, health informatics, and water. We anticipate selection of the clusters that will be authorized for search later this spring. Phase Two individual hiring proposals are also currently under review, and the committee is on track to recommend new hires to the provost later this spring.
Phase Three similarly is focused on the research priorities of UTA 2030 through the addition of new non-tenure-track (NTT) research faculty. Currently, a call for proposals for Phase Three is underway, and you can find more details on how to submit proposals on the RISE 100 website. We have authorized the search to begin for 15 NTT research faculty across the colleges of Science, Engineering, and Nursing and Health Innovation.
Phase Four has also recently been established and calls for proposals for eight to 15 postdoctoral fellows. Provost Tamara Brown announced this on Feb. 20, and the first round of proposals was due March 4. Another call for postdoc proposals will be forthcoming in the fall.
I am extremely proud of the swift progress that our team has made, in both the thoughtful and important proposals that have been submitted and the work of the committees to review and begin recruiting. The new faculty and postdocs we hire will join a group of exceptional faculty and researchers, and we look forward to welcoming our first hires very soon.
Thank you for your continued interest and support of the RISE 100 program. Together we will reach our big dreams.
