Information and Computer Science Graduate Program Ranked 29th by U.S. News & World Report

Irvine, Calif., April 11, 2002--UC Irvine's information and computer science graduate program moved up five places to No. 29 in the most recent U.S. News & World Report's academic rankings. In the last rankings released in 1999, the ICS doctoral program was tied for 34th.

The U.S. News rankings spotlight the country's academically excellent graduate programs and are based on surveys in which scholars rate school's reputations for scholarship, curriculum and the quality of faculty and graduate students.

"We take this improvement in rankings to heart," said Debra J. Richardson, the Ted and Janice Smith Family Foundation Professor and Department Chair. "As educators, our number one priority is providing a quality education to all of our students. To be recognized in the top 30 of computer science doctoral programs in the country is a tribute to the efforts of our distinguished faculty."

Richardson said UCI's graduate program in computer science is known nationally for its breadth of research. The UCI program, the largest within the University of California system, benefits from strong research partnerships with many of the nation's leading information technology companies, which in turn hire many of the program's graduate students, she said. Its breadth and partnerships allow ICS to attract top-quality graduate students each year.

The UCI Department of Information and Computer Science was founded in 1968 in recognition of the emerging importance of this field. Its mission is to produce an educated workforce that can adapt to the rapidly changing discipline and to serve as an economic engine for the advancement of technology. With 41 faculty members, 1,750 undergraduates and 250 graduate students, ICS is the fastest growing major at UCI. For more information, visit http://www.ics.uci.edu.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE: A TOP-10 PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

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