Institutions

California's research institutions

Every California college and university with a 2025 Carnegie research designation, listed by tier, and the three national laboratories. The homepage shows a few of these marks; this is the whole list.

Source: Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, 2025 Research Activity Designations, American Council on Education. Retrieved Sept. 29, 2026.

Research 1 · 14

Very high research spending and doctorate production

The top tier. Fourteen California institutions hold it, ten of them University of California campuses.

Public · 11

  • UC Berkeley
  • UC Davis
  • UC Irvine
  • UCLA
  • UC Merced
  • UC Riverside
  • UC San Diego
  • UC San Francisco
  • UC Santa Barbara
  • UC Santa Cruz
  • San Diego State University

Private · 3

  • California Institute of Technology
  • Stanford University
  • University of Southern California

Research 2 · 16

High research spending and doctorate production

Sixteen institutions, seven of them California State University campuses.

Public · 8

  • California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
  • California State University, Fresno
  • California State University, Fullerton
  • California State University, Long Beach
  • California State University, Los Angeles
  • California State University, Sacramento
  • San Francisco State University
  • San José State University

Private · 8

  • Azusa Pacific University
  • Chapman University
  • Claremont Graduate University
  • Loma Linda University
  • Loyola Marymount University
  • Pepperdine University
  • University of San Diego
  • University of San Francisco

Research colleges and universities · 24

Research at institutions not otherwise designated Research 1 or 2

A tier Carnegie added in 2025 for research at institutions it had not recognized before. Twenty-four in California, twelve of them California State University campuses.

Public · 13

  • California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
  • California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt
  • California State University, Bakersfield
  • California State University, Channel Islands
  • California State University, Chico
  • California State University, Dominguez Hills
  • California State University, East Bay
  • California State University, Monterey Bay
  • California State University, Northridge
  • California State University, San Bernardino
  • California State University, San Marcos
  • Naval Postgraduate School
  • Sonoma State University

Private · 11

  • Biola University
  • Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
  • Claremont McKenna College
  • Harvey Mudd College
  • High Tech High Graduate School of Education
  • Keck Graduate Institute
  • Occidental College
  • Pomona College
  • Santa Clara University
  • Touro University California
  • Western University of Health Sciences

National laboratories · 3

Department of Energy laboratories, not Carnegie-classified

Carnegie classifies colleges and universities, not laboratories. These three are here because the homepage shows them.

  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
  • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

The framework is written by volunteers

Researchers from many of these institutions are already writing the framework for CalCompute. If yours is on this list and you have a stake in public AI, there is room for you.

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