2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Understanding Research Dynamics at the University of Arizona: An AI-Driven Metadata Analysis

Presented at DSAI Technical Session 10: Research Infrastructure and Institutional Insights

This study explores the complex research landscape of the University of Arizona, which boasts over \$955 million in annual research expenditures. By analyzing an extensive dataset of 190,000 publications, 6,000 researchers, 24,000 internal collaborations, 50 funding agencies, 40,000 funded projects, and 23,000 development research proposals, we reveal valuable insights into the institution's research strengths and emerging trends.

The methodology involves systematically collecting, processing, and analyzing diverse research metadata from multiple sources. We address the challenges of managing large-scale, unstructured data to provide a comprehensive view of the university's research activities. Key findings include: (a) the role and diversity of researchers, (b) interconnections between departments and colleges in collaborative research, (c) the university’s research strengths in grants, patents, proposal writing, and publications, and (d) an analysis of the institution’s collaboration network.

The findings have been integrated into the interactive University of Arizona Knowledge Map (KMap) platform, which maps research strengths and collaborations across the university. These insights offer valuable guidance to researchers, administrators, and policymakers aiming to enhance the university's research strategy and impact.

Authors

Dr. Iqbal Hossain The University of Arizona [biography]

Dr. Iqbal Hossain is the Director of Research Data Science at the University of Arizona and a lead data scientist with expertise in network analysis, visualization, algorithms, natural language processing, and applied generative AI. He joined the University of Arizona as a postdoctoral researcher in 2016 and invented the UArizona Knowledge Map (KMap). KMap leverages various types of research metadata, analyzes them, and visualizes the data to enable a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system for research-related inquiries at the University of Arizona.

Dr. Hossain has published over two dozen peer-reviewed articles in areas including data science, computer algorithms, graph theory, network visualization, information retrieval, information visualization, machine learning, natural language processing, and database systems. He actively collaborates with external groups, students, and researchers at the University of Arizona on a wide range of research projects.

With over 20 years of professional experience in research, IT systems development, team management, and innovation, Dr. Hossain is passionate about designing data science systems and leading efforts to solve the university’s data science problems to help researchers and the university's administration.
Thomas Harman University of Arizona [biography]

Thomas Harman has been an IT Business Analyst with the KMap team for nearly two years. In this role, he is responsible for data collection and processing, site analytics, and supporting various campus projects using KMap's powerful tools. His primary focus is on processing and understanding institutional data, such as grant proposals, faculty publications, and campus-wide collaborations to better assist the UA community in its research and academic environment. Thomas earned his degree in Information Technology from the University of Arizona and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Management Information Systems in his free time.
Wesley Nguyen University of Arizona [biography]

Wesley Nguyen is a web developer for the KMap team, where he builds and maintains the KMap website with a focus on performance, accessibility, and usability. He works closely with backend systems and institutional data sources to support research discovery and collaboration across the university. His work spans frontend development, database integration, and designing tools that help users explore faculty expertise and global engagement. Wesley earned his degree in Geography Data Science from the University of Washington and spends his free time tinkering with servers and listening to new original soundtracks.
Ravneet Chadha The University of Arizona

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