RICHARDSON, Texas (April 9, 2007) – The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas continues to move up on U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings of graduate schools, gaining seven places on the magazine’s latest list to become No. 47 among the nation’s public graduate schools of engineering.
When compared head-to-head with graduate programs at all other schools of engineering, the UT Dallas engineering school now ranks No. 77 nationally, up 12 places from last year. And in Texas the Jonsson school ranks No. 4 – edging out the University of Houston school of engineering for that position – after UT Austin (11th nationally), Texas A&M (14th) and Rice University (30th).
“Just 20 years old, the Erik Jonsson School has had remarkable success over a short period, which is reflected in the school’s growing stature nationally,” said UT Dallas President David E. Daniel. “That momentum will continue as the Jonsson School expands the breadth and quality of its offerings to help the region and the nation meet the demand for highly skilled engineers and computer scientists. I congratulate Bob Helms and his team on their leadership.”
Dr. Bob Helms, who has served as dean since 2003, said, “This is solid evidence that we’re succeeding at transforming the Jonsson School into one of the top 50 engineering schools in the country. Two years ago we didn’t even make the U.S. News list of top graduate schools, but we’ve embarked on ambitious goals of expanding our faculty, launching new programs, increasing our research and multiplying our output of Ph.D. graduates, and the latest rankings demonstrate that we’re getting people’s attention.”
Two of the Jonsson School’s major academic programs also rose in the U.S. News rankings. The graduate program in electrical engineering is now No. 44 among public schools (up from 48th last year), and 73rd overall (up from 77th last year). In addition, the graduate program in computer engineering, which didn’t even make the list last year, is now ranked 39th among public schools and 63rd nationally.
Helms was a key player in one of the largest economic development agreements in the nation in recent years. Under an innovative arrangement, Texas Instruments agreed to build a $3 billion chip fabrication plant in Richardson near the UT Dallas campus, and the state and private sector agreed to ensure UT Dallas received an infusion of up to $300 million to help it become one of the nation’s top research universities.
One of the first fruits of that infusion was the completion early this year of the university’s Natural Science and Engineering Research Laboratory, a state-of-the-art 192,000-square-foot research facility designed to promote collaborative projects among research groups from chemistry, biology, physics, electrical engineering, materials science and engineering, and behavioral and brain sciences. According to Helms, the new facility is bolstering the Jonsson School’s efforts to recruit world-class faculty.
Survey methodology: U.S. News surveyed programs at 199 engineering schools that grant doctoral degrees. Rankings were calculated based on a weighted average of 10 indicators, including a quality assessment, peer assessments, recruiter assessments and student selectivity. Seventy-nine schools made the publication’s final cut based on their quality assessment scores.
About UT Dallas
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls more than 14,500 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UT Dallas, please visit the university’s website at www.utdallas.edu.