Graduate students Laura Alt, left, and Tim Neher work in the laboratory of Adina Howe, an associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering. Larger photo. Photo by Ryan Riley/Engineering College Relations.
AMES, Iowa – Amy Kaleita quickly counted the ways Iowa State University’s graduate program in agricultural and biosystems engineering is at the cutting edge – and therefore ranked as one of the country’s best.
“Our graduate students are engaged in innovative research on the cutting edge of the discipline – dynamics systems modeling for improving ag machinery design, advanced robotics for field scouting and big data collection, plot and field experiments to design and evaluate new conservation practices, and analytics to improve efficiency and safety in food systems and manufacturing processes, to name just a few areas,” said Kaleita, professor and chair of Iowa State’s program.
In rankings of graduate programs released today, U.S. News and World Report magazine has Iowa State agricultural and biosystems engineering at No. 2 in the country, scoring just one-tenth of a point behind top-ranked Purdue University in Indiana.
Three years ago, the two programs tied for first. Then Iowa State was first. And for two years it has been Purdue by a little.
“We’re excited that the excellence of our students and programs continues to be recognized by our peers in these rankings, but I’m most proud of the great work that our faculty and grad students are doing to serve Iowa and the world through their state-of-the-art research,” Kaleita said.
This year’s rankings
The magazine released its annual rankings of graduate programs today. Other highlights for Iowa State include top 15 rankings among public universities for programs in statistics and higher education administration and top 25 rankings among publics for eight engineering programs.
The magazine ranks programs in business, education, engineering, law, medicine and nursing every year. Those rankings are based on reputational surveys of academics and professionals and statistical measurements of faculty, research and students.
The magazine also periodically ranks programs in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, health and other fields. Those rankings are based solely on surveys of academic reputation.
Here are the magazine’s latest rankings of Iowa State graduate programs:
Colleges and schools
College of Engineering, tied for 26th among publics and tied for 48th overall
Ivy College of Business, tied for 31st among publics and tied for 57th overall
School of Education, 66th among publics and tied for 84th overall
Departments and programs
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, 2nd among publics and 2nd overall
Statistics, tied for 10th among publics and tied for 19th overall
Higher Education, 15th among publics and 23rd overall
Aerospace Engineering, tied for 19th among publics and tied for 27th overall
Chemical and Biological Engineering, tied for 21st among publics and tied for 34th overall
Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, tied for 22nd among publics and tied for 29th overall
Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, tied for 22nd among publics and tied for 35th overall
Computer Engineering, tied for 23rd among publics and tied for 39th overall
Mechanical Engineering, tied for 23rd among publics and tied for 41st overall
Electrical Engineering, 25th among publics and tied for 42nd overall
Materials Science and Engineering, tied for 27th among publics and tied for 44th overall
Chemistry, tied for 27th among publics and tied for 49th overall
Economics, tied for 30th among publics and tied for 57th overall
Physics and Astronomy, tied for 31st among publics and tied for 53rd overall
Computer Science, tied for 38th among publics and tied for 63rd overall
Biological Sciences, tied for 44th among publics and tied for 80th overall
Mathematics, tied for 46th among publics and tied for 75th overall
Psychology, tied for 47th among publics and tied for 80th overall
Earth Sciences, tied for 70th among publics and tied for 100th overall
Part-Time MBA, tied for 95th among publics and tied for 151st overall