November 2, 1995

N.C. State College of Engineering among top 20

The College of Engineering at N.C. State University has long been recognized as a leader in engineering education in the South. The recent National Research Council study of doctorate programs in the United States now indicates that it is also one of the leading comprehensive engineering schools in the country.

According to Dr. John G. Gilligan, associate dean of academic affairs for the College of Engineering, NC State ranks 17th in the country for quality of the doctoral programs among universities with comprehensive engineering schools.

The NRC study ranked the top 146 of the country's approximately 300 engineering schools in eight disciplines: aerospace, biomedical, chemical, civil, electrical, industrial, materials science and mechanical. Only six schools in the country including N.C. State were ranked in all eight areas. In two of the disciplines, N.C. State ranked in the top 20: 16th in aerospace and 11th in industrial engineering.

The study did not consider nuclear, agricultural and textiles engineering. A survey by U.S. News and World Report places the N.C. State nuclear engineering department at 7th in the country and agricultural at 10th. Gilligan said the textiles engineering department is widely regarded as the best in the country.

Because many schools are ranked in only one or two areas, Gilligan selected the 40 schools ranked in at least six of the eight engineering disciplines considered by the NRC. He averaged the rankings for each school's top six departments.

The calculation yielded an average score that places the college 17th in the country and 2nd in the Southeast among those schools that have a broad range of engineering disciplines in their programs. According to Gilligan, all the schools with which N.C. State competes for students and faculty are included in those he ranked.

"The study shows that we are in a group that includes some very good schools," Gilligan said. "The University of Washington, UCLA, Ohio State, Texas A & M--that's our current comparison group."

Equally significant is how some of the individual departments fared. N.C. State's graduate program in chemical engineering ranks first in the Southeast, and the program in electrical engineering climbed in the national rankings from 42nd in 1982 to 21st in the most recent rankings.

"I am delighted that the strategic investments we have made in doctoral education at N.C. State have paid off. Nearly all of our graduate programs have scored strong gains in national reputation over the past decade," said Dr. Debra Stewart, N.C. State vice provost and dean of the Graduate School, and a member of the NRC Committee on the Assessment of the Research Doctorate, which supervised the study.

"Gains have been strongest in fields that are vital to the country's competitiveness, and here our engineering programs shine," Stewart said. "We are proud of the graduate faculty in the College of Engineering and look forward to their sustaining the excellence in graduate training which these reputational rankings reflect."

One factor examined in the study is the number of times faculty research is cited in scholarly literature. The materials science program at N.C. State ranks in the 90th percentile in this area, higher than all but a few programs in the country.

A recent survey conducted by Ralph K. Cavin III, dean of the college, indicates the university's success in graduate education. It revealed that 89 of the 95 engineering Ph.D. graduates in 1994-95 found jobs in their fields within the first few months of receiving their degrees.

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