Research raises UC Merced’s standing on Carnegie list
UC Merced moved up in ranking on the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education list, which officials say highlights the campus’s research activity.
Designated a “doctoral-granting university with higher research activity,” the second-highest classification for U.S. research universities, UC Merced made its first appearance at that level on the Carnegie list.
UC Merced offers more than 20 doctoral degrees, primarily in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
From 2005 to 2015, the school awarded more than 40 doctoral degrees, made nearly $138 million in research-related expenditures and received more than $185 million in research grants, campus officials said.
UC Merced’s designation, also called “R2,” makes it one of 107 universities in the United States to have earned that ranking, which is a way of grouping institutions with similar levels of research.
UC Merced, which opened in 2005, is the youngest institution in the group to be classified R2. Other UC campuses are included in the R1 category (highest research activity), which features the nation’s top 115 research universities.
“Our young campus’s achievement of the R2 classification is a testament to our faculty members’ research productivity,” Chancellor Dorothy Leland said in a news release. “We’re well on our way to continuing the University of California’s proud tradition of impactful research with global implications while also serving the educational and social needs of California’s San Joaquin Valley.”
The university has also been recognized recently with grants from nationally recognized institutions.
▪ More than a dozen faculty members have won awards from the National Science Foundation.
▪ Last year, NASA awarded the campus $5 million for a new research center.
▪ This week, a UC Merced researcher received a W.M. Keck Foundation Award, a $1 million grant pointed toward biomedical research.
This story was originally published February 12, 2016 at 12:17 PM with the headline "Research raises UC Merced’s standing on Carnegie list."