The University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering rose to No. 3 in U.S. News & World Report's 2015 graduate program rankings, strengthening the department's position as one of the nation’s elite engineering departments. The graduate program in Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering rose to No. 4.
Both graduate degree programs moved up two spots from the previous year.
In addition, the Cockrell School of Engineering graduate programs rose to No. 10. The Cockrell School’s aerospace, chemical, computer, and mechanical engineering programs were all ranked in the nation’s top 10, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings released this morning.
More than 2,100 students are currently enrolled in the Cockrell School of Engineering’s 13 graduate degree programs, where they work side-by-side with world-renowned faculty. The school’s 27 research centers and affiliated research units provide graduate students with the opportunities to focus on various high-demand areas, including but not limited to wireless networking, nanomanufacturing, energy, transportation, biomedical and petroleum engineering.
The boost in graduate rankings comes at a significant time for the Cockrell School. Last month, the school announced that four faculty members were elected to the esteemed National Academy of Engineering (NAE), the highest number among universities nationally in 2014. In January, the school announced a $20 million gift from the Mulva Family Foundation that will help build the new Engineering Education and Research Center, a 430,000-square-foot facility that will be dedicated to interdisciplinary teaching and research and will transform the UT Austin campus.
Within CAEE, structural engineering professor and UT Provost Gregory L. Fenves was elected to the NAE in recognition of his computational modeling, earthquake engineering software development, and academic leadership.
U.S. News & World Report's engineering graduate program rankings are based on student acceptance rates, faculty/student ratios, research expenditures, reputation among engineers in industry and academia, the number of doctorate degrees produced, the percentage of faculty elected to membership in NAE and entrance exam scores.
This year, in addition to the Cockrell School’s ranking, UT Austin's graduate schools in business, education, geosciences and law are all ranked in the top 15 nationally in U.S. News & World Report’s 2015 edition of “Best Graduate Schools.”
