From the top of the world to the bottom of the barrel

[slapshot]

I'm sorry, you wanna compare UMD to UVA and UNC ? Really ?

REALLY ?

UMD is a community college in comparison.

In terms of graduate research, you betcha. Pick your measure: facilities, research dollars, noble prize winners, publications, etc.

[kudzu]

In terms of graduate research, you betcha. But I wouldn't expect a drop out living in a trailer park to understand this.

Really ?

Looks like UNC way out in front, with UMD and UVA in a virtual tie in that particular specific regard...

[slapshot]

Really ?

Looks like UNC way out in front, with UMD and UVA in a virtual tie in that particular specific regard...

Nope not that easy. First, the metrics that were used:

The Center for Measuring University Performance determines the Top American Research Universities by their rank on nine different measures: Total Research, Federal Research, Endowment Assets, Annual Giving, National Academy Members, Faculty Awards, Doctorates Granted, Postdoctoral Appointees, and SAT scores.

Fact: 4 of their 9 metrics don't directly measure the quality of research, students, faculty or facilities.

I even have a question by what two of their metrics even mean: "total research and federal research"....are they simply counting the number of research efforts at a university??? As if all research efforts have equal significance/importance? The dollars in those research categories? What?

Furthermore, not all these metrics are equal, yet, they were all weighted equally when tabulating the ranking score.

Realistic rankings break down the research by individual department, rank each dept individually, and then tally that school. Those rankings use the following metrics: research dollars, prestige of faculty, publications, facilities investments, etc. One of the best measures that i know of, regarding the quality, or importance of research being done at a university, are the number of citations of existing publications on a topic. Citations of another faculty's published work, is a clear measure - by those working in the field - of the importance of research being conducted at university X. Many of the measures used in the study you cited, such as annual giving, endowment, doctorates awarded, etc do NOT measure the quality of research. They are indirect measures, at best.


So, based on these highly questionable "research" metrics, UNC is ranked higher than UMD, while UMD is ranked higher than UVA. But I had to laugh at the fact that UNC, a university with no, nada engineering research efforts is ranked that high. That tells me all I need to know about the validity of this study. Collectively, engineering programs occupy the largest research efforts (in terms of number of graduate students, research dollars, post docs, number of faculty, number of publications, etc) on most campuses.

[durango46]

Do you guys think Len goes pro next year ? If so, do you see him going in the 1st round ?

Personally, I don't think he's ready but who am I to argue with the $$$ ???

[slapshot]

Do you guys think Len goes pro next year ? If so, do you see him going in the 1st round ?

Personally, I don't think he's ready but who am I to argue with the $$$ ???

If not a lock for a 1st rounder, then he's taking a big risk, as no guarentee of a contract.

[kudzu]

prestige of faculty

I think you've hit on something there.

Maryland's faculty is clearly scraping the bottom of the barrel presently.