UCF was recently ranked No. 5 in the United States and No. 29 in the world for transportation science and technology, according to ShanghaiRanking鈥檚 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2020.
UCF also ranked among the top 40 civil engineering programs in the nation in the same global ranking, alongside Iowa State, Johns Hopkins, Michigan State and Penn State.
The ranking includes 200 of the world鈥檚 top universities, and places UCF ahead of Georgia Tech, Purdue, Arizona State 海角直播, Carnegie Mellon and the 海角直播 of Florida in the category.
Last year, UCF ranked among the top 20 in the nation and top 75 in the world in the same category.
Also known as Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), ShanghaiRankings annually ranks the best universities in academic subjects ranging from physics and biological sciences to finance and hospitality and tourism management. The rankings take into account six indicators, including the success of alumni, the quality of faculty and the amount of research published in the field鈥檚 top academic journals.
鈥淭he significance of the ranking means that UCF has another pocket of excellence in its mix,鈥� says Michael Georgiopoulos, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. 鈥淥utstanding faculty and students, who we recruit to UCF, look at these rankings to make decisions about whether to join our institution. Funding agencies look at the reputation of the institution鈥檚 faculty and students to make funding decisions. The college鈥檚 continued pursuit of research and educational excellence depends on pockets of excellence such as transportation science and technology housed in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering [CECE].鈥�
UCF鈥檚 CECE department has made impressive strides over the past several years, including being ranked among the top 40 civil engineering programs in the nation in the same global ranking, alongside Iowa State 海角直播, Johns Hopkins 海角直播, Michigan State 海角直播 and Pennsylvania State 海角直播.
The team has published nearly 300 articles in top journals and been recognized for best papers by the Transportation Research Board, the ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering and the World Conference on Transport Research Society; beat out 50 other teams 鈥� including Ford and Uber 鈥� to win a national competition by the U.S. Department of Transportation focused on making driving safer; and garnered roughly $22 million in research funding for projects, including a grant from the Federal Highway Administration to test several smart cities transportation technologies locally. In addition to the USDOT, FDOT and MetroPlan, UCF researchers have collaborated with the Federal Highway Administration, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program and the 海角直播 Transportation Center: Safety Research Using Simulation to study topics focused on monitoring, assessing and improving traffic safety.
鈥淚ntegrating programs in transportation systems and smart cities have extended our influence and reach to many students, and increased the demand for our programs.鈥�
鈥� UCF Professor Mohamed Abdel-Aty
UCF offers several degrees for students interested in pursuing transportation studies, including a B.S. in civil engineering, an M.S. in civil engineering, an M.S. in transportation systems engineering, and the nation鈥檚 first engineering-focused M.S. in smart cities.
鈥淚ntegrating programs in transportation systems and smart cities have extended our influence and reach to many students, and increased the demand for our programs,鈥� says Mohamed Abdel-Aty, Pegasus Professor of civil engineering and chair of the CECE department. 鈥淥ur faculty have wide range of critical expertise that contribute to the excellent quality of our education and research.鈥�
As one of the nation鈥檚 fastest-growing cities and only hubs offering connectivity options via road, sea, air, rail and even space, Orlando offers faculty and students alike the opportunity to study multi-modal, multi-faceted transportation systems. Orlando was the most-visited destination in the U.S. with a record 75 million people in 2018 and was ranked the No. 23 worst cities in the nation for traffic, according to a 2019 ranking by international navigation company TomTom. The area boasts seven major highways, three major ports less than 2 hours away, seven international airports within 100 miles, and 68 miles of railroad with an additional 170 miles of new track being developed by Virgin Trains to connect Orlando to Miami. NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Center is also only roughly an hour away.
Currently, there are more than $10 billion in transportation infrastructure investments in Orlando, including the $2.3 billion, 21-mile long I-4 Ultimate project. According to The Wall Street Journal, the public-private partnership is one the nation鈥檚 largest roadway projects.
Discover other UCF academic rankings.
