Monday, May 07, 2012

NRC physics ranking by research output

I was pleasantly surprised by the recent NRC rankings of physics departments. In the research output ranking, UO did quite well. NRC uses a sophisticated statistical method that gives a range of possible outcomes.

In the list below I would say MIT and Stanford deserve higher ratings, and UO is (alas) ranked higher than it deserves. Once you get beyond the top 10 or so physics departments, there are many good programs across the country, and it's hard to differentiate between them.



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7 comments:

  1. Pincher7:16 PM

    Who knew UC Santa Cruz was such a physics powerhouse.

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  2. David Coughlin8:49 PM

    I think these rankings hew strongly to the fundamental physics crowd.  UC Santa Cruz has an excellent reputation in the cosmology crowd [though, if I recall correctly, the faculty is aging and represents the status quo on a lot of things].

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  3. matmcinn11:31 PM

    I thought the ranking of Yale was far more astonishing. Apart from Appelquist and Moncrief, both of whom must be near retirement, who are the important people there?

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  4. steve hsu11:39 PM

    Keep in mind the rankings include all areas of physics, not just hep-th or GR!

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  5. Richard Seiter1:45 PM

    Is the UC Santa Cruz rating mostly from the astrophysics department or does it have other strong physics subfields?  I live in Santa Cruz and am interested in a relatively unbiased opinion which I think you can offer.

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  6. steve hsu9:21 PM

    UCSC is strong in several areas, not just astro. They (like UO) are probably higher in this set of rankings than they should be, but are another example of a strong department that isn't well known outside the field.

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  7. LondonYoung11:02 PM

    Harvard DEAS Applied Physics right there at the top?  I have no idea what the rankings even mean, yet someone I am pleased ;-)

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