Engineering's strength grows in rankings report
All Purdue engineering disciplines have top-25 rankings and eight appear in the top 10 in this year's graduate program rankings by US News & World Report. Agricultural and Biological Engineering ranked No. 1 for the fifth consecutive year, while six other graduate programs, chemical engineering, computer engineering, environmental and ecological engineering, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering and nuclear engineering all moved up.
"As we embark on a period of significant strategic growth, we are encouraged by these rankings as they reflect the collective excellence and efforts of all of our faculty and staff," said Leah Jamieson, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering, who noted several contributing factors that included the continuing growth of research expenditures per faculty, and total research expenditures. There was a 14 percent growth in research expenditures per faculty member, and a 9 percent growth in research spending overall.
Other factors Jamieson noted:
- Our recruiter assessment score continued at 4.1 (out of 5.0), with 7 schools having a greater recruiter assessment score; 9 were ahead last year. Our peer assessment score remained steady at 4.2 with 9 schools having a higher peer assessment score; 9 were ahead of us last year as well.
- The number of Ph.D. students per faculty grew by 4 percent, from 4.7 to 4.9.
- Selectivity increased as shown by the student-acceptance rate, which dropped a full percentage point to 26.9 percent.
| Unit | 2014 Ranking (Published March, 2013) | 2013 Ranking (Published March, 2012) |
|---|---|---|
| College | #8 | #10, tied with Cornell |
| ABE | #1 | #1 |
| AAE | #6 | #6 |
| CE | #6 | #6, tied with MIT |
| ME | #8 | #9, tied with Cornell |
| NE | #8, tied with Penn State | #11 tied with Oregon State |
| CmpE | #10 | #11 |
| EE | #10 | #10, tied with Princeton |
| IE | #10 | #15 |
| ChE | #13, tied with Carnegie Mellon & U Illinois | #14, tied with Carnegie Mellon & Northwestern |
| MSE | #17, tied with U Minnesota and U Wisconsin-Madison | #14, tied with Carnegie Mellon |
| EEE | #17, tied with Duke, Rice, U Wisconsin-Madison & Yale | #19, tied with Penn State & U Minnesota |
| BME | #23, tied with Harvard, U Minnesota & U Virginia | #23, tied with U Minnesota, U Virginia, U Wisconsin-Madison |
The Purdue newsroom has more information on Purdue's graduate program rankings.