The University of Alabama at Birmingham (also nationally known as UAB) is a doctoral, public research university covering 83 blocks in the heart of Alabama’s largest city Birmingham, Alabama, USA. The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education classifies UAB as an institution of RU/VH or "Very High Research Activity," the only university in the state of Alabama to meet that definition. UAB is one of only 96 universities in the nation with the designation.