AMES, Iowa — Iowa State University has been ranked fifth in the world among universities in the area of agriculture and forestry by a British organization’s annual university rankings.
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings measures academic reputation, employer reputation and citations per scientific journal papers to determine the rankings. Its survey of teaching and research activities is provided for educational and career information: http://www.topuniversities.com/subject-rankings. Last year, Iowa State ranked 10th among universities in agriculture and forestry.
“From basic to applied science, our researchers are changing the world,” said Joe Colletti, Iowa State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences senior associate dean. “They discover, share and engage the right people at the right time with the right knowledge to solve local to global agricultural and food issues.”
The college has broken undergraduate enrollment records the past two years and has the third-largest undergraduate program in the nation. Students choose from 25 majors traditional majors like agronomy, agricultural business, animal science, animal ecology, horticulture and forestry, or from broader areas in agriculture, food, natural resources and science with majors like biology, culinary science, genetics, global resource systems, microbiology, dietetics and environmental science. The college’s placement rate has been 97 percent or higher for 16 straight years, with more than 70 percent starting their careers in Iowa.
The Agriculture Experiment Station, the research program of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is Iowa’s only public agricultural research program and last year celebrated its 125th anniversary.
Nearly 750 active research projects are tied to scientists supported by the Agriculture Experiment Station — research in plants, animals, natural resources, food and nutrition, energy, economics and more. Science-based information from the Experiment Station reaches every county in Iowa through ISU Extension and Outreach and research and demonstration farms guided by local stakeholders.
Recent Iowa State agricultural research highlights include:
- Animal scientists discovered the first naturally occurring pigs born without immune systems, offering the potential of introducing human immune systems for medical research.
- A landmark study showed significant progress by the nation’s egg industry in decreasing its environmental footprint over the past 50 years.
- Researchers have generated a draft genome sequence of the pathogen that causes sudden death syndrome in soybeans, an essential step toward incorporating resistance to the disease that causes hundreds of millions of dollars in crop losses.
- Researchers are mapping the potentially far-reaching health benefits of starches that take extra time to digest. The work has significant implications for combating obesity, preventing disease and coping with diabetes.
This year’s top 10 of Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings in agricultural and forestry were:
- University of California, Davis
- Wageningen University, Netherlands
- Cornell University
- University of Wisconsin, Madison
- Iowa State University
- University of California, Berkeley
- Oregon State University
- Purdue University
- Texas A&M University
- Ohio State University