Jackson School graduate program rises to No. 9 in U.S. News & World Report rankings

March 31, 2006

AUSTIN, Texas—The Jackson School of Geosciences rose two points, from No. 11 to No. 9, in the latest ranking of earth science graduate programs from U.S. News & World Report.

In addition to the overall ranking, the Jackson School earned top 10 rankings in three of the four earth science specialty areas rated by U.S. News & World Report, placing No. 5 in geology, No. 8 in geophysics and seismology, and No. 9 in paleontology.

The California Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology placed No. 1 and No. 2 in the overall rankings. Both institutions also ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in 1999, the last year that U.S. News & World Report published new geoscience rankings.

For 2006, U.S. News & World Report overhauled the taxonomy of its geoscience rankings. In 1999, the overall ranking was called geology, not earth sciences, and there were six geology specialties: geochemistry, hydrogeology, geophysics, sedimentology/stratigraphy, paleontology, and tectonics/structure. This year, geology was one of a reduced set of four specialty areas. The dropped specialty areas included sedimentology/stratigraphy, where The University of Texas at Austin ranked No. 1 in 1999. The school continues to enjoy a reputation as one of the top sedimentology/stratigraphy programs in the world.

A partial table of results, which appeared in U.S. News & World Report's annual edition of America's Best Graduate Schools, appears below. Faculty, students and staff of the Jackson School can obtain a copy by e-mailing J.B. Bird in the Dean's Office.

School	1999	2006
Cal Tech	1	1
MIT	2	2
Stanford	3	2
UC Berkeley	3	4
Columbia	5	5
Michigan	5	5
Penn State	7	7
Arizona	7	8
Harvard	7	9
Texas	11	9
Princeton	11	11
UCLA	11	11
Washington	18	11
Yale	20	11

For more information about the Jackson School contact J.B. Bird at jbird@jsg.utexas.edu, 512-232-9623.