UCSB Graduate Programs Among the Top 10 in the U.S.

In its annual ranking of leading graduate and professional programs at American universities, U.S. News & World Report magazine has rated two of UC Santa Barbara’s programs among the top 10 in the nation.

UCSB’s materials program was ranked No. 2 in the 2016 U.S. News list of American universities, and No. 1 among public institutions. The top spot is held by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private research university.

The chemical engineering program at UCSB ranks No. 9 overall, and No. 5 among public universities. It is tied with Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Delaware

In addition, UCSB’s College of Engineering was ranked No. 23 in the country. Tied with the University of Maryland, College Park, it is No. 12 among public universities.

U.S. News does not compile rankings in all fields every year and this year did not update the rankings for graduate programs in the humanities; social sciences; biological and physical sciences, including chemistry; mathematics; physics and statistics.

In addition to the current graduate program rankings, UCSB — which boasts six Nobel Laureates — came in at No. 28 in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities rankings. These include the top 500 institutions across 49 countries. In the magazine’s 2015 listing of the Top 30 Public National Universities, UCSB placed at No. 10.

“We’ve known for many years that our graduate students and faculty are among the best in the world, and the new rankings by U.S. News & World Report are a confirmation of that status,” said Carol Genetti, dean of UCSB’s Graduate Division. “We are proud of all of the UC Santa Barbara graduate programs and the impact they have on our students, our campus, our community, and around the world.”

Noted Rod Alferness, dean of the university’s College of Engineering, “The consistent top ranking of our materials department and our other highly ranked departments demonstrate the success of UCSB’s interdisciplinary approach. Our rankings reflect the impact our engineering graduate programs have on the research community. They are particularly significant given that UCSB has a relatively small but highly selective pool of students and faculty.”

The U.S. News rankings are based on a weighted average of various measures, some specific to the particular program. The rankings generally include an assessment by peers, with measures of faculty quality and resources, student selectivity, research activity and several other factors.

Highlights of the graduate school rankings are included in the current issue of U.S. News & World Report and in the 2016 edition of its America’s Best Graduate Schools.