5 universities join elite Association of American Universities.

The University of Notre Dame has been selected to join the Association of American Universities (AAU), a consortium of the nation’s leading public and private research universities. Membership is by invitation only and based on an extensive set of quantitative indicators and qualitative judgments that assess the breadth and quality of a university’s research and graduate and undergraduate programs. Notre Dame has made significant strides in recent years as a research institution, and since 2007, research awards received by Notre Dame have grown 194 percent.