Lehigh's CEE department recognized as second best program in the world by the AWRU
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) recently listed Lehigh’s civil engineering program as the second best in the world, coming in right behind China’s Tongji University. For the department of civil and environmental engineering, it’s been a recognition 150 years in the making.
“We recently celebrated the 150th anniversary of our department, so the timing of this recognition couldn't be better,” department chair Panos Diplas said. “It’s great recognition of our past, but also sets high expectations for our future contributions in our field.”
According to the ARWU website, programs are judged using six objectives that assess research accomplishments, scholarly output and the impact of research.
Specifically, ARWU considers the number of published research and awards won by faculty, the impact of research measured by a Citation Impact on the InCites database, and the percentage of internationally collaborated papers published.
"ARWU is renowned for its rigorous methodology in evaluating the quality of research programs around the globe,” Diplas said.“It is gratifying to have these contributions of Lehigh's CEE faculty recognized in this manner."
In all, 1,200 top universities are ranked, of which 500 are published on the ARWU website.
Lehigh scored well in all categories, but the CEE faculty stood out due to the quantity of academic papers appearing in top-tier journals. Diplas noted that Lehigh's CEE department is ranked against departments three times its size--making Lehigh's result even more remarkable.
“Our department has a long tradition of excellence in civil and environmental engineering," Diplas says. "We are proud of our community's significant and sustained contributions in research and scholarly output, as well as its impact to the profession through research and education."
-Danielle Bettermann is a student-writer with the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Deputy Lifestyle Editor for The Brown and White.