LSU Surpasses $600 Million in Research Activity, Continuing Multi-Year Historic Rise Across Unified Flagship

BATON ROUGE – LSU’s Flagship has surpassed $600 million in annual research activity, building on last year’s record-setting milestone when the campuses exceeded $500 million for the first time ever. This marks the fifth consecutive year of record-breaking research wins.   

“This is not a one-time jump. It is a trajectory,” said Chancellor Jim Dalton. “We are building exceptional momentum across every single flagship campus.”  

The LSU flagship collectively reported $601 million in research expenditures for fiscal year 2024–2025, an 11% increase from $543 million in 2023-2024. Importantly, every LSU flagship campus increased activity, reflecting collaborative, high-impact projects spanning campuses and partners across Louisiana.  

• FY 2021: $366M (3% growth)
• FY 2022: $429M (17% growth)
• FY 2023: $488M (14% growth)
• FY 2024: $543M (11% growth)
• FY 2025: $601M (11% growth)

LSU A&M

Researchers at LSU and Tulane University were awarded $22 million by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in 2023 to lead a large consortium to chart a new course for the fragile Lower Mississippi River Delta, which is of critical importance to U.S. commerce, energy, fisheries, and the people who live there. Co-led by Sam Bentley, professor and Billy and Ann Harrison Chair in Sedimentary Geology at LSU, the project supports the development of a new generation of coastal scientists. Bentley was also awarded $3.8 million in 2022 for a collaborative project with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, to study underwater mudslides where the Mississippi River enters the Gulf.

LSU AgCenter

Besides its signature breeding programs for the best rice, sugarcane, and sweet potatoes that Louisiana farmers can grow, the LSU AgCenter’s invasive species research has received significant funding in recent years. This has led to the launch of both an Invasive Species Consortium and a Center of Research Excellence to protect people, land, water, and wildlife from threats such as feral pigs, apple snails, and giant salvinia. Altogether, invasive species cause $120 billion in damage in the U.S each year, including to agricultural production. LSU AgCenter is leading the regional research effort to fight back from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast. See how it started. 

LSU Health New Orleans and LSU Health Shreveport

Since 2018, LSU has been leading the Gulf South Clinical Trials Network, part of the NCI Community Oncology Research Program, funded by the National Cancer Institute, to expand access to clinical trials for people served by community hospitals throughout Louisiana and Southern Mississippi. Today, the Gulf South NCORP is a major effort of the LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center, established in 2022, which leads LSU’s drive for NCI designation. The network spans LSU Health New Orleans, home of the Stanley S. Scott Center of Excellence in Cancer Research, and LSU Health Shreveport, home of the Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, together with Ochsner Health and Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center. It is led by Dr. Augusto Ochoa, deputy director of the LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center, and continues to improve the care and outcomes of cancer patients by increasing access to cutting-edge clinical trials without leaving home. 

Pennington Biomedical Research Center and LSU Health New Orleans

While Pennington Biomedical researchers have helped develop every GLP-1 weight loss drug currently on the market to fight obesity and diabetes, they’re also collaborating with LSU Health New Orleans to “get personal” on who should follow which diet through a national study called Nutrition for Precision Health, powered by the All of Us Research Program under the National Institutes of Health. Launched in 2022, the research, which is led by Eric Ravussin at Pennington Biomedical and Dr. Lucio Miele at LSU Health New Orleans, goes deep into genetics, metabolism, physiology, and behavior—even microorganisms. Learn more about how the effort got started. 

“We are incredibly proud of our Flagship faculty’s commitment to excellence, but we aren’t slowing down,” said Chancellor Dalton. “This type of sustained success is exactly how we will reach our goal of being among the top 50 research universities in the nation.” 

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