U.S. News & World Report Ranks TSRI Among Top Graduate Schools

By Mika Ono and Jason Socrates Bardi

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is ranked among the best graduate schools in the country, according to the April 15 edition of U.S. News & World Report.

The publication ranks TSRI sixth overall in chemistry—and second in the specialty of organic chemistry. TSRI is rated ninth overall in the biological sciences, and sixteenth in the specialty of biochemistry.

"Scripps has emerged on the scene to become one of the best graduate schools in both biology and chemistry," says Jeffery Kelly, vice president for academic affairs and dean of graduate studies. "The rankings are a tribute to both Bernie [Gilula, first dean of the graduate program,] and Richard [Lerner, president of TSRI,] and their vision of how research and education should be fully integrated."

TSRI's distinguished graduate program is only 13 years old. In 1989, TSRI launched the Macromolecular and Cellular Structure and Chemistry (MCSC) Program, building on the institute's strengths in the integration of cell and molecular biology, structure, and chemistry. Three years later, TSRI founded the Chemistry Program, drawing on its newly assembled chemistry faculty with an outstanding record in chemical, biological, and structural research. To date, the programs have graduated some 120 students.

The U.S. News & World Report periodically reviews schools, including undergraduate institutions and community colleges, across the country. According to The Wall Street Journal, this "U.S. News roundup is considered in the heavyweight camp." The rankings published two years ago put TSRI eighth in chemistry and tenth in the biological sciences. The new list moves TSRI higher in both categories.

The latest U.S. News & World Report rankings were based on a survey of academics in each field conducted during the fall of 2001. The questionnaires, sent to department heads, deans, directors of graduate studies and other individuals in each discipline, asked individuals to rate the quality of the program at each institution. In addition, respondents were asked to nominate programs that had excellent offerings in certain specialty areas. Those programs that received seven or more nominations were listed, in order of the number of nominations received.

Out of 89 schools, the publication rated the top graduate programs in chemistry as follows:

1.	University of California at Berkeley
2.	California Institute of Technology
	Harvard University
	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
5.	Stanford University
6.	The Scripps Research Institute
	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
8.	Columbia University
	Cornell University
	University of Wisconsin at Madison

Out of 139 schools, the publication rated top graduate programs in the biological sciences as follows:

1.	Stanford University
2.	Harvard University
	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
	University of California at Berkeley
5.	California Institute of Technology
	Johns Hopkins University
	University of California at San Francisco
8.	Rockefeller University
9.	Princeton University
10.	The Scripps Research Institute
	Yale University

The U.S. News & World Report website also posts a list of the top five schools in organic chemistry.

Go back to News & Views Index