UCI science programs get top ranking
Pat Brennan, science, environment editor, the Orange County Register
UC Irvine gained top rankings this week for several of its doctoral programs, including Earth System Science, home of the university’s climate researchers.
The rankings, from the National Research Council, place UCI’s School of Physical Sciences among the nation’s best. That included all four of its programs, chemistry, mathematics and physics & astronomy as well as Earth System Science.
“That was extraordinary, considering this is a relatively new program,” said Eric Saltzman, an atmospheric chemist who helped gather data information on Earth System Science for the rankings. “It didn’t exist last time this was done.”
The last such ranking was in 1995; the new one is based on data gathered in 2005, he said.
Neuroscience, anthropology, civil engineering and ecology and evolutionary biology also received high marks.
The National Research Council is an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.
