U.S. News has named Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Engineering among the “Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs” in the nation. The college ranked No. 11, tied with the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, among the 210 schools where the highest engineering degree offered is a bachelor’s or master’s.
Cal Poly Pomona’s programs in civil engineering and computer engineering both ranked at No. 5 in the nation. The electrical/electronic/communication program was listed at No. 11 with mechanical engineering at No. 12.
According to U.S. News, “the undergraduate engineering program rankings were based solely on peer assessment surveys.” Two peer assessment surveys were sent to each Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology-accredited engineering program.
Recently, three Cal Poly Pomona student teams won international design competitions sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The competitions were to design a short-haul air taxi aircraft, to design a crew/cargo vehicle to travel between a lunar space station and the surface of the moon, and to design a vehicle to replace the United States’ aging Minuteman strategic nuclear weapon delivery system. In 2018, a trio of professors earned a CSU Faculty Innovation and Leadership Award for changes made to a mechanical engineering course that substantially improved student performance.
Cal Poly Pomona as a whole was ranked No. 2 among “Top Public Schools” in the West and tied for No. 14 in the “2020 Best Regional Universities – West,” rising from No. 28. U.S. News considered 128 universities across 15 states in the western region’s rankings.
The university was also noted as one of the “Most Innovative Schools,” ranking at No. 3, and tied for No. 9 in the region for “Best Undergraduate Teaching” and “Top Performers on Social Mobility.”
For the 2020 ranking, 35 percent of the U.S. News & World Report formula was based on outcomes, including graduation and retention rates, graduation rate performance and social mobility. Faculty resources for the 2017-18 academic year, including class size, student-faulty ratio and faculty salary accounted for 20 percent. Also included were expert opinions on the institution’s academic reputation (20 percent), financial resources per student (10 percent), student excellence (10 percent) and average alumni giving (5 percent).
California State University campuses took 7 of the top 10 spots on the U.S. News “Top Public Schools – Regional West List.”