Three of the College of Engineering’s graduate programs have been ranked among the top 10 in their fields in the “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2009” survey released today by U.S. News & World Report.
The industrial engineering graduate program in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering is ranked seventh this year among peer programs nationally. Both the civil engineering and environmental engineering programs in the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering are ranked 10th. All three of these Virginia Tech specialties typically score among the top 10 in their respective fields.
In addition, five other Virginia Tech engineering graduate specialties are ranked this year among the top 25 in their fields: aerospace engineering is ranked 13th; computer engineering, 25th; electrical engineering, 18th; materials engineering, 22nd; and mechanical engineering, 18th.
The College of Engineering’s overall graduate program moved up a few notches in the new survey, from 33rd last year to 28th among all schools of engineering, and from 18th to 17th among engineering colleges at public institutions.
“One should never attach much significance to small changes in the U.S. News & World Report rankings,” said Richard C. Benson, dean of engineering. “Still, I am pleased by the five-point upward movement of the Virginia Tech College of Engineering.”
“I am particularly pleased by the top-20 scores that we received in both the peer assessment and recruiter assessment surveys,” Benson added. “The folks who work with our faculty members and hire our students know us the best, and they have shown their confidence in the College of Engineering. We intend to re-earn that respect with every succeeding generation of Hokie engineers.”
U.S. News & World Report’s graduate rankings, published annually since 1987, are based on several categories of data gathered from the surveyed schools, plus peer assessments of deans, senior faculty and other professionals in their respective fields. The specialty rankings are based solely on assessments by department heads in each specialty area.