Pratt jumps three spots in rankings

The Pratt School of Engineering continues to climb the ranks among engineering schools in the nation.

U.S. News and World Report listed Pratt as the 28th best engineering school in the country Tuesday. This marks a three spot jump since last year’s rankings were released. Pratt has moved up seven places on the list in the last three years, rising faster than any other engineering school in the country, Pratt Dean Tom Katsouleas said.

“Pratt is on a roll—I could not be more pleased,” Katsouleas said. “It is just going to get better, especially considering some of our new faculty hires.”

U.S. News considers many factors when assessing engineering schools, including faculty resources, research activity and total research expenditures. Katsouleas noted that an increase in research funding is a major contributor to the school’s recent jump in the rankings. Pratt received a total of $94 million in outside research grants and subawards in the 2010-2011 academic year, which was a more than $20 million increase from the awards received in the 2009-2010 academic year.

“We have a lot of momentum right now, and we are excited to continue to follow our strategic plan,” Katsouleas said.

The U.S. News report also ranked Duke’s graduate school programs among the most selective in the country. The School of Law and the Fuqua School of Business maintained their rankings at 11th and 12th place, respectively. The Sanford School of Public Policy tied with six other schools, coming in at 16th in the public affairs category, though it ranked sixth in public policy analysis subcategory. The School of Medicine fell to ninth place in the rankings for research medical schools. This is down from last year’s tie for fifth place with the medical schools at Stanford University, University of California—San Francisco and Yale University.