The University’s post-graduate engineering programs are ranked No. 93 in the nation after three consecutive years of improvement, according to U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools” rankings.
The graduate engineering program as a whole improved from No. 99 in the 2011 rankings to No. 95 for 2012. In this year’s rankings for 2013, the program comes in at No. 93 of 193 ranked institutions.
College of Engineering Dean Richard Koubek said the improvement in both the undergraduate rankings released in the fall and the recently-released graduate program rankings could be attributed to a college-wide focus on three issues, including experience, research initiatives with an impact on the region and providing the college with the right faculty and staff.
“In many cases, people would have been satisfied if we were able to stay the same [in the rankings], given the fiscal straits we have had to deal with,” Koubek said. “That was not the case for the faculty and staff of the College of Engineering. They did not let the financial picture define or limit them.”
The Department of Chemical Engineering gained two spots over last year’s ranking, No. 53 out of 125, and now sits at 51 of the 125 institutions, according to the rankings.
The Department of Civil Engineering gained 11 spots, moving up from No. 65 out of 111, and is now No. 54 out of 106 institutions.
The Department of Mechanical Engineering improved from No. 72 out of 123 to No. 72 out of 109 institutions.
In the category of environmental health engineering, the University’s program improved from No. 70 out of 79 to No. 65 out of 68.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering showed the greatest improvement in the rankings. It gained 32 spots, increasing from No. 121 out of 135 to No. 89 out of 112.
The merger between the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Department of Computer Science will bolster the College of Engineering’s position in the national rankings for both undergraduate and graduate programs, Koubek said.
Computer science students will see the most tangible effects of the merger with the move into Patrick F. Taylor Hall on July 1 and the creation of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Koubek said the new collaboration between electrical engineering and computer science will help provide the necessary workforce and research initiatives to aid the growing number of film and technology companies coming to the state.
With the merger, the College of Engineering will be able to expand its research focus from the state infrastructure and energy industry to also encompass a third cross-disciplinary area of research.
Koubek said he felt the improvement shown by the College of Engineering is just one aspect of an overall improvement at the university.
“No college is an island independent of the rest of the University,” Koubek said. “The fact that the rankings are moving up in engineering but also in business and education shows that if you work together, it shows the strength of the University in unity.”
 
—- Contact Paul Braun at [email protected]