ECE ranks high on US News and World Report annual survey

In the 2009 annual survey by U.S. News and World report, ECE Illinois and the College of Engineering continued to show the strength of their curricula.

For undergraduate electrical engineering, ECE ranked third, up one spot from the 2008 rankings. First and second went, respectively, to MIT and Stanford University, both private universities.

For undergraduate computer engineering, ECE retained its ranking of fifth from the 2008 rankings. The top four schools in this category were MIT, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of California, Berkeley.

"These U.S News and World Report rankings are important because they are so widely read by the general public," said ECE Department Head Richard Blahut. "However, I don’t always agree with the factors used in the rankings. There are many parameters and many ways to determine who is number one."

Overall the undergraduate programs in the Illinois College of Engineering ranked fourth in the survey. Ten Illinois engineering programs were ranked in the top ten. Civil, agricultural, and materials engineering were ranked first in the nation.

Rankings for individual departments
6 - Aerospace
1 - Agricultural
22 - Biomedical
8 - Chemical
1 - Civil
5 - Computer Engineering
3 - Electrical/Electronic/Communications
4 - Engineering Physics
2 - Environmental/Environmental Health
11 - Industrial/Manufacturing
1 - Materials
6 - Mechanical
4 - Nuclear (from 2007; Nuclear engineering is ranked every other year.)