Saeed Behzadinasab, a graduate assistant in the Department of Chemical Engineering, works on samples in Goodwin Hall. Behzadinasab worked with William Ducker and his team to develop a film substance that neutralizes the SARS-CoV-2 virus on surfaces. Photo by Ryan Young.Graduate programs throughout Virginia Tech are among the best in the country, according to a survey of the nation’s top graduate schools by U.S. News & World Report.
The College of Engineering is the top performer of the university’s graduate programs, ranking 31 among 212 nationwide. As for specialty engineering programs, three at Virginia Tech ranked in the top 10. They are environmental at six, industrial at eight, and civil at nine.
Other Virginia Tech specialty engineering programs that made the top 20 are aerospace at 15, electrical at 16, nuclear at 17, mechanical at 17, and computer engineering at 20.
“We are excited to see that many of our engineering programs continue to perform well in these rankings,” said Pamela VandeVord, associate dean of research and graduate studies for Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering.
Last fall, Virginia Tech launched a new master of engineering in computer science, which is the inaugural academic program for the Innovation Campus based in Northern Virginia. The goal of the program is to prepare students to advance their careers in the field.
Virginia Tech’s part-time MBA program, offered by the Pamplin College of Business, ranked 28 among 279 institutions. This is the seventh year that the program has landed in the top 30, said Dana Hansson, director of MBA programs at Virginia Tech.
This summer, Virginia Tech will begin offering a new online MBA program.
“Accommodating students with virtual learning over the last year across all of our MBA formats allowed us to explore fully online delivery as a permanent option through the recently announced online MBA,” Hansson said. “We’re already excited by the level of interest and strength of the applications we’ve received.”
The online program also gives Virginia Tech new avenues for growth, said Parviz Ghandforoush, associate dean for graduate programs at Pamplin.
For the second year, the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke made the U.S. News rankings in the research category of medical programs, ranking 83 among 133 schools. Since last year, the school continues to rank highest among the 30 new U.S. medical schools accredited since 2002. There are approximately 155 accredited medical schools in the country.
“We are very pleased to continue leading the cohort of newer medical schools while outranking some of the public and private medical schools that were established long ago,” said Lee Learman, dean of the VTC School of Medicine. “We expect our reputation to increase in the years ahead as we grow our class size and graduate more outstanding physicians to practice across the U.S. and here in Virginia.”
Several other Virginia Tech graduate programs made the U.S. News ranking in their respective areas. They include public affairs at 48, economics at 63, sociology at 64, English at 82, and education at 125.
The U.S. News & World Report annual graduate school rankings are based on two types of data: expert opinions about program excellence and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school’s faculty, research, and students. Specialty program rankings are based on nominations from school officials.
by Jenny Kincaid Boone