The George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University ranked No. 30 among the nation’s leading engineering programs and placed 14th among private universities, according to the 2023-24 edition of the U.S. News and World Report ranking of graduate schools.
Six engineering disciplines offered by the School of Engineering climbed in the national rankings, with three in the top 20. Biomedical engineering once again ranked in the top 10 nationally.
“At Rice Engineering, we are focused on solving big problems that have societal impact – locally, across the country and around the world,” said Luay Nakhleh, William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering. “Key to accomplishing this is our culture of collaboration and the interdisciplinary research of our faculty and students. We are always proud to advance in the graduate rankings, particularly when they are paired with our undergraduate program which is ranked 16th overall in the nation.”
National rankings for disciplines across Rice Engineering include biomedical (tied for No. 10), environmental (No. 12, up from No. 16 last year), civil (No. 19, up from No. 26), chemical (No. 22, up from No. 24), electrical (No. 23, up from No. 25), materials (No. 24, up from No. 27), mechanical (No. 25, up from No. 29), computer (No. 26) and computer science (No. 31). Among computer science specialties, programming language and systems both placed in the top 25.
“Rice Engineering is continuing to grow on all fronts – from our increases in faculty positions and research expenditures to our gains in graduate, female and minority enrollment,” Nakhleh said. “Most importantly, we are committed to developing engineers who place people and the environment at the center of their work.”
The Best Graduate Schools rankings at the school level are based on expert opinions and statistical indicators measuring the quality of a school's faculty, research and students. The discipline rankings are solely based on peer assessment which includes polls of deans, program directors and senior faculty members.
The data for the rankings in all disciplines come from statistical surveys of more than 2,081 programs and from reputation surveys sent to more than 24,603 academics and professionals in fall 2022 and early 2023.