Academic Research

Support of Academic Research

The Institute initiates and supports research efforts in various legal disciplines at the intersection of law and technology, science, and innovation. This research furthers society’s understanding of the interaction between the law and technology, science, and innovation, and it improves the role and impact of the law in these fields. The Institute achieves these ends by providing research stipends, funding research-related expenditures, organizing academic workshops and summits, and facilitating use of research assistants. These activities aid professors at SMU Dedman School of Law in producing high impact scholarship.

Research Stipends and Grants

The Institute provides summer research stipends to law faculty engaged in research at the intersection of law and science, technology and innovation. It also provides grants to law faculty for research-related expenditures, such as fees related to specialized software and databases, surveys, and travel.

Tsai Summits

Tsai Summits are annual retreats hosted by the Tsai Institute that bring together small, curated groups of leading scholars from across the United States and internationally to explore the intersection of law and technology, science, innovation in particular areas of academic research. Over multiple days at remote destination locations, participants workshop papers in progress, trade candid feedback, and test new ideas in a roundtable format rather than a traditional conference. While also sharing meals and other activities, the Summits build lasting professional and personal relationships among participants, while showcasing SMU's scholarship among professors at peer institutions.

Research Workshops

The Institute organizes research workshops at the SMU Dedman School of Law that draw research faculty from across the United States to workshop papers in particular areas of academic research at the intersection of law and technology, science, innovation. Tsai Scholars Program (header) The Institute’s Tsai Scholars Program provides stipends to high achieving law students to enable them to work closely with the Institute’s faculty on research projects.