Faculty members and students from civil engineering and environmental engineering test the strength of concrete diaphragms in the Thomas M. Murray Structures Lab. Virginia Tech’s civil and environmental engineering graduate programs were ranked among the top 10 nationally in the latest U.S. News & World Report.
BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech’s ongoing commitment to research, teaching, and engagement continue to be reflected in university rankings, as several of the institution’s College of Engineering graduate programs were rated highly in the latest U.S. News & World Report’s annual graduate school rankings released Tuesday.
The university’s top 100 global effort, named Virginia Tech Global Distinction, seeks to make the university a destination for the best faculty, students, and partners from the commonwealth, the nation, and the world. The engineering graduate school rankings reflected that priority.
Overall, U.S. News & World Report ranked Virginia Tech’s engineering graduate programs at tied for No. 31.
U.S. News & World Report ranked four of Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering individual graduate programs in the top 10:
Environmental: Tied for No. 5
Industrial and systems: No. 5, up from No. 6
Civil: No. 9
Biological/agricultural: Tied for No. 10, up from No. 12
In addition, four other individual graduate programs were rated in the top 20:
Aerospace: Tie for No. 11, up from No. 14
Computer: No. 15, up from No. 23
Mechanical: No. 17
Electrical: No. 20
Other engineering graduate programs to receive top-50 marks included materials at No. 34, computer science tied for No. 36, biomedical at No. 36, and chemical at No. 42.
“It is our mission to advance the boundaries of engineering knowledge and practice through transdisciplinary research,” said Julie Ross, the Paul and Dorothea Torgersen Dean of Engineering. “The caliber of our world-class education is truly reflected in our students, faculty, and alumni, who are sought globally for their excellence. We invest in the resources that prepare our graduates to solve today’s most complex social and technological challenges in and beyond their communities.”
The engineering graduate school rankings build on a strong showing by other individual graduate programs in Virginia Tech colleges that were released by U.S. News & World Report in early April. The university’s Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program within the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine came in tied for No. 19 nationally, while Virginia Tech’s part-time Evening MBA program, offered by the Pamplin College of Business, was tied 35th nationally and No. 1 in Virginia. The program, based in Falls Church, holds in-person courses in the evening and offers online elective classes in the summer.
Virginia Tech’s graduate programs in computer science and computer engineering, along with the Evening MBA program, will be based at the Innovation Campus location in Alexandria starting in spring 2025.
Virginia Tech’s graduate programs in public affairs (tie for No. 57), education (tie for No. 79) and public health (No. 88) earned top-100 rankings from U.S. News & World Report release in early April. The first two of those programs reside in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, while the public health program is in the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, which focuses on three academic programs related to health: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences Graduate Program, and public health.
In addition, within the College of Science, graduate programs in earth sciences (tie for No. 33), statistics (tie for No. 37), physics (tie for No. 50), mathematics (tie for No. 51), economics (tie for No. 65), chemistry (tie for No. 67), and psychology (tie for No. 68). Within the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, two programs received top-100 marks, including sociology (tie for No. 64) and English (tie for No. 82).
The publication’s rankings of medical school graduate programs will be released in late July.
Michael Stowe for Virginia Tech
