New Ranking from U.S. News & World Report Places Scripps Research Among Top Graduate Schools
By Mika Ono
The Scripps Research Institute's Kellogg School of Science and Technology continues to be ranked among the best graduate schools in the country, according to the April 15, 2010 edition of U.S. News & World Report.
The publication now ranks the Kellogg School seventh overall in chemistry, with a ranking of third in the specialty of organic chemistry and fourth in the specialty of biochemistry. The school is also rated seventh overall in the biological sciences, with a ranking of ninth in the specialty of biochemistry/biophysics/structural biology.
"The Kellogg School offers both an interesting curriculum and the opportunities to join stellar research laboratories for thesis work," said Dean James Williamson. "Graduate work at Scripps is a special opportunity, and many of the features of our program are different than at a traditional university. Our goal is to provide the most conducive environment to enable students to make important discoveries as a stepping stone for their careers."
The Scripps Research graduate program was launched in 1989. Since then, the program has grown rapidly in both size and reputation, now consisting of more than 200 students of the biological and chemical sciences. In 2002, it was named the Kellogg School of Science and Technology, in honor of philanthropists Janet R. ("Jean") Kellogg and W. Keith Kellogg II. Alumni of the program from both the La Jolla, California and Jupiter, Florida campuses have gone on to hold prominent positions in academia and industry.
The U.S. News & World Report periodically reviews schools, including undergraduate institutions and community colleges, across the country. The previous rankings of Scripps Research published in 2002 placed the program sixth in chemistry and ninth in the biological sciences.
The new rankings were based on a survey of academics in each field conducted during the fall of 2009. 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.
Other metrics corroborate the school's high standing. An index of graduate program faculty published in The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2007 ranked the Kellogg School as best in the nation in biophysics, second in immunology, and seventh in biochemistry.
Out of more than 140 schools, U.S. News & World Report rated the top graduate programs in chemistry as follows:
- California Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of California at Berkeley - Harvard University
Stanford University - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Northwestern University
The Scripps Research Institute
University of Wisconsin at Madison - Columbia University
Cornell University
Out of more than 220 schools, the publication rated top graduate programs in the biological sciences as follows:
- Stanford University
- Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of California at Berkeley - California Institute of Technology
Johns Hopkins University - Princeton University
The Scripps Research Institute
University of California at San Francisco
Yale University
For more information on the rankings, see the U.S. News & World Report website. For more information onf the Scripps Research Graduate Program, see The Kellogg School web site.
Send comments to: mikaono[at]scripps.edu
"Our goal is to provide the most conducive environment to enable students to make important discoveries as a stepping stone for their careers."
—Jamie Williamson
