Category Archives: Universities

Best Research University Rankings – 2007

There are several rankings of universities. They can be interesting but also have obvious limitations. I find Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University’s the most interesting (especially the international nature of it). Their real focus seems to be in providing a way for China to get a feel for how they are progressing toward developing world class universities (interesting slide presentation on their efforts). The methodology values publications and faculty awards and is provides a better ranking of research (rather than teaching). Results from the 2007 rankings of Top 500 Universities worldwide showing country representation of the top schools:

location	Top 101	% of World Population	% of World GDP	% of top 500
USA	54	4.6%	27.4%	32.7%
United Kingdom	11	0.9	4.9	8.3
Germany	6	1.3	6.0	8.1
Japan	6	2.0	9.0	6.3
Canada	4	0.5	2.6	4.3
France	4	0.9	4.6	4.3
Sweden	4	0.1	0.8	2.2
Switzerland	3	0.1	0.8	1.6
Australia	2	0.3	1.6	3.3
Netherlands	2	0.3	1.4	2.4
Israel	1	0.1	0.3	1.4
Finland	1	0.1	0.4	1.0
Norway	1	0.1	0.6	0.8
Denmark	1	0.1	0.6	0.8
Russia	1	2.2	2.0	0.4
China		20.1	5.5	2.8
India		17.0	1.9	0.4

China has 1 ranked in the 151-202 range as do Taiwan, Korea and Brazil. Singapore has one in the 102-151 range. The other country without any in the top 101 with representation in the next 101 is Italy with 3 schools in the 102-151 range and 2 in the 152-202 range. India has 2 in the 305-401 range.

Top 10 schools (same schools as last year, Cambridge moved from 2nd to 4th):

Harvard University
Stanford University
University of California at Berkeley
Cambridge University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)
California Institute of Technology
Columbia University
Princeton University
University Chicago
Oxford University

University of Wisconsin – Madison is 17th 🙂 My father taught there while I grew up.
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Harvard Course: Understanding Computers and the Internet

Harvard Extension School – Computer Science E-1: Understanding Computers and the Internet

This course is all about understanding: understanding what’s going on inside your computer when you flip on the switch, why tech support has you constantly rebooting your computer, how everything you do on the Internet can be watched by others, and how your computer can become infected with a worm just by turning it on. In this course we demystify computers and the Internet, along with their jargon, so that students understand not only what they can do with each but also how it all works and why. Students leave this course armed with a new vocabulary and equipped for further exploration of computers and the Internet. Topics include hardware, software, the Internet, multimedia, security, website development, programming, and dotcoms. This course is designed both for those with little, if any, computer experience and for those who use a computer every day.

Nice job. via: Learn How The Darn Thing Works … from Harvard

Authors of Scientific Articles by Country

The United States National Science Foundation published – Changing U.S. Output of Scientific Articles: 1988–2003.

In an unexpected development in the early 1990s, the absolute number of science and engineering (S&E) articles published by U.S.-based authors in the world’s major peer-reviewed journals plateaued.
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The unprecedented plateau in the number of U.S. S&E articles should not be confused with a decades-long and familiar decline in the U.S. share of the world’s S&E articles. As other states built up their S&E capabilities, the U.S. share of the world’s articles in natural sciences and engineering dropped from 38% in 1973 to 28% in 2003. This decline in share is not surprising, nor has it been viewed as a cause for concern. By many measures, including articles published in peer-reviewed journals, the United States has been the world’s leading scientific nation for decades and remains the world’s leading scientific nation.
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Although the U.S. share of the world’s influential articles dropped substantially, the United States remained dominant in this area. At the end of the period studied, U.S. institutions were at least partially responsible for half of the world’s influential articles; no other major publishing center approached this figure. Moreover, compared with other major publishing centers, a considerably higher percentage of total U.S. output was classified as influential.

NSF includes a great deal of interesting data along with commentary. One compelling area is that of the location of authors of the top 1% of the most cited papers. The USA leads with 64.6% in 1992 and 56.6% in 2003. European Union-15 (15 countries for this measure) 23.3% to 27.7% (interesting, not what I would have predicted – which would have been a decline, though a small one). Japan 4.2% to 5.3%. East Asia – 4 (China, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan) from .1 to 1.1% (and rising rapidly – .5% in 2001 to .8% in 2002) – interesting but not so surprising, basically what I would expect – rapid gains. All other countries: 7.8% in 1992 and 9.3% in 2003. I predict these figures will have to break out India sometime in the next 10 years – I wish they did now though I expect it is a fairly low figure. China will also be reported separately, I believe.

The NSF data includes all sorts of great stuff. For the same top 1% of cited articles by topic East Asia – 4 in Engineering/Technology: 1992 .9% – 2003 7.2% in Social Sciences 0.0% to .6% in Mathematics 1.3% to 5.6%. In Engineering/Technology the USA dropped from 63.3% to 45.4%.

This is more data supporting what I have said before Science Excellence and Economic Benefits:
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High Pay for Engineering Graduates – July 2007

From the National Association of Colleges and Employers survey , Starting Salary Offers to Class of 2007 Continue to Rise.

Degree	Average Salary Offer	Increase over 2006
Chemical Engineering	$59,361	5.4%
Civil Engineering	$48,509	5.4%
Computer Engineering	$56,201	4.8%
Computer Science	$53,396	4.1%
Mechanical Engineering	$54,128	4.6%
Electrical Engineering	$55,292	3.2%
Information sciences and systems	$50,852	4.6%

Economics was the next highest pay reported by NACE at $48,483. So once again engineering graduates are being paid well. Some other majors: Accounting – $46,718; English – $32,553 and Psychology $31,631.

National Science and Technology Medals

photo of White House Technology Medal Ceremony - July 2007

The 2005 and 2006 National Medals for Science and Technology were awarded at a White House Ceremony this week. The National Science and Technology Medals Foundation web site has photos of each award winner receiving their medals this year and a list of all winners. The National Medal of Science was established by Congress in 1959 as a Presidential award, has recognized 441 of America’s leading scientists and engineers. The evaluation criteria is based on the total impact an individual’s work has had on the present state of physical, chemical, biological, mathematical, engineering, behavioral or social sciences.

The National Medal of Technology was established by Congress in 1980 as a Presidential award, has recognized 146 individuals and 26 companies whose accomplishments have generated jobs and created a better standard of living. Their accomplishments best embody technological innovation and support the advancement of global U.S. competitiveness.

List of all winners from the White House press release: Continue reading →

Highly Paid Professor

A Raise for the Record Books:

Under the new agreement, the base state salary for Alain E. Kaloyeros, a professor of nanosciences and vice president and chief administrative officer for the college, rose from $525,000 to roughly $667,000.

That’s in addition to money he earns from his research efforts: In the 2006 fiscal year, he also received $258,701 based on his generation of external grants, contracts, licenses and royalties, which Kaloyeros estimated via e-mail amount to about $250 million per year. (He added in his e-mail that he turns down all offers for consulting, board service, and the like, so does not have any income external to the university).
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“Alain has been responsible for bringing in billions of dollars to U Albany for nanotechnology research and development … about $4 billion to date,” said Susan V. Herbst, provost and officer in charge, or acting president, at Albany. Herbst approved the raise, which was subsequently approved by SUNY’s former systemwide chancellor, John R. Ryan. “Certainly in medicine, engineering, the life sciences, the great universities across the country need to pay competitive salaries to keep the very best faculty with them. We are no different.”

Kaloyeros’s salary increase comes with an increase in duties related to economic development, for which a full announcement is pending in a few weeks, Herbst said. She pointed, though, to one major economic development initiative already announced and under way: Kaloyeros’s work to bring the international headquarters for SEMATECH, a consortium of semiconductor manufacturers representing about half the world’s production, to Albany.

Robot Hall of Fame

Robot Hall of Fame at Carnegie Mellon

Two categories of robots are honored in the Robot Hall of Fame:

Robots from Science – These are real robots that have served useful or potentially useful functions and demonstrated unique skills in accomplishing the purpose for which they were created. These may also be robots created primarily to entertain, as long as they function autonomously.

Robots from Science Fiction -These are fictional robots that have inspired us to create real robots that are productive, helpful, and entertaining. These robots have achieved worldwide fame as fictional characters and have helped form our opinions about the functions and values of real robots.

The web site is not exactly great yet but the idea seems to have merit and the location is sensible; Tour the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Lab.

Second Life for Scientist

A farewell to academia and hello to Second Life – a professor of Physics and Astronomy moves on the the second act of his professional career.

Loved the teaching. Loved the science. Couldn’t take the politics. Couldn’t take the tenure stress. That about sums it up.

It is a very good post that spells out several important points that should be addressed including:

Many people have noted that it’s getting harder to get null results published, and that it’s very difficult to get “credit’ for having done good science if you produce a null result… even though such things really should be the bread and butter of what scientists do, if we really believe all the things we say all the time about how science works, and about how the process of science is an honest, open, and objective process.

Engineering – Economic Benefits

The issues involved in the impact of engineering education and a strong economy are not easy to address in one short article. Impacts are delayed over time. Confusion between available skills and available skills at a certain price is often raised (people claiming there can’t be a shortfall of engineers if salaries are not rising even higher). But I continue to post about these topics because I think they are important (and I find it interesting to think about and read about…). And hopefully a good understanding can be gained through the many post (and the sources referenced in those posts – Economic Strength Through Technology Leadership, includes a listing of over 15 posts on these topics). Another article addresses some of these issues with some interesting points – Innovator fears U.S. losing edge:

Not unlike Hewlett and Packard or Harley and Davidson, Bob Kern created a company while tinkering in a rented garage in Waukesha more than five decades ago. To him, too few Americans seem capable of doing that today. “There’s a gross shortage of engineering talent in the country,” Kern says. Now 81, Kern built Generac into a company that employs some 2,000 people at three factories in Wisconsin and one in his native Iowa.

Generac makes power generators, the type that back up data centers, hospitals and homes during power failures. Equipped with a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Illinois, Kern spent his career searching for inventive folks to maintain a culture of constant innovation. More often than he cares to admit, he couldn’t find them in his home country. Since the 1970s, he has contracted with engineers in Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan and Great Britain.

What Kern represents is exactly what countries around the world are trying to duplicate. Talented businessmen creating good job. And note he started as an engineer and retired as the head of a 2,000 person company (S&P 500 CEOs – Again Engineering Graduates Lead).
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Science Focus in New UK Government

Science wins champion in shake-up

Mr Brown often warned as Chancellor that Britain needed a strong scientific base to punch above its weight in an increasingly competitive global market. By including innovation and science in the higher education brief for England the new prime minister is throwing his weight behind the sector for the long term. Although Britain’s scientific research is regarded as among the best in the world, the decline in the numbers studying science has sounded alarm bells throughout academia and industry. A string of universities have closed physics or chemistry departments in recent years because of a lack of would-be students.
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This has sparked fears that the country’s science and engineering base may not be able to cope with the ever-increasing competition from nations like China and India.

As I have stated numerous times previously I believe those countries that manage to gain (or retain) centers of science and engineering excellent will gain significant economic advantage.