UAHuntsville graduate engineering program on the rise, claims U.S. News & World report

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (March 13, 2012) - The 2013 ranking of engineering graduate programs by U.S. News & World Report is evidence that The University of Alabama in Huntsville is a program on the rise.

UAHuntsville's graduate engineering program was ranked 88^th in the nation, according to the magazine. That is an improvement over a year ago when the university was listed at No. 100.

"Our College of Engineering is a program that is on the rise nationally," said UAHuntsville President Bob Altenkirch. "The leadership being provided by Dean Shankar Mahalingam, the addition of new programs, the outstanding research and addition of key faculty are having a positive impact on the college. Those efforts are reflected in this latest ranking by U.S. News & World Report."

Dr. Mahalingam noted: "Our outstanding faculty are actively competing for research contracts and grants and awards to support M.S. and Ph.D. students, and we expect this trend to grow faster in the years to come."

Provost Vistasp Karbhari cited the faculty, staff and students in the College of Engineering as being some of the best in the nation.

"The ranking merely emphasizes the tremendous strides being made in the college in not only providing leadership in teaching, research and scholarship, but in also meeting the advanced technological needs of the greater Huntsville area," Dr. Karbhari said.

He pointed out that Huntsville is one of the Top 10 Best Performing Cities in the Country, according to the Milken Institute. "This city deserves nothing less than a pre-eminent engineering college, and I have confidence that Dean Mahalingam and our faculty will continue to rise in expectations."

The university has recently added several academic programs in engineering-related disciplines in response to the workforce development needs of Huntsville, Cummings Research Park and Redstone Arsenal.

For example, Ph.D. programs have been created in aerospace systems engineering and modeling and simulation. Master's degrees have also been added in aerospace space systems engineering, information assurance and security, as well as modeling and simulation.