‘Reverse Rhodes Scholarship’ Established for Engineering

Durham, NC is a place with many diverse cultural opportunities and people, attributes driven, in part, by the two universities here.  Today, Duke University made an announcement that will give top engineers from across the world will a new reason to come and study here.

Duke and North Carolina State universities, along with six other U.S. institutions, today announced the establishment of a new scholarship program designed to bring international graduate students to the U.S. to further their research.

The program, known as the Vest Scholarships, is named after the outgoing National Academy of Engineering (NAE) President Charles M. Vest. The announcement was made at the inaugural Global Grand Challenges Summit (GGCS) in London. The new scholarship program will foster international collaborations among graduate students whose studies are focused on tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges.

Participating universities are conducting research toward addressing the NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering™, 14 “game-changing” goals with the potential to dramatically improve life in the 21st century, as identified by a blue-ribbon committee of leading technological thinkers and doers. The challenges are also the inspiration for the GGCS.

In addition to Duke and NC State, the schools participating are the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Olin College, University of Southern California, University of Washington, Illinois Institute of Technology, and MIT.

“This is like a reverse Rhodes Scholarship,” said Tom Katsouleas, dean of Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering. “It gives select international graduate students the opportunity to pursue potentially world-changing ideas at top U.S. universities.

“We hope that the Vest Scholarships will grow and become a highly valued platform for international collaboration -- specifically that the students will carry the pollen of potent ideas from continent to continent with them and back again, strengthening international relationships in order to advance progress in some of our most critical global challenges,” Katsouleas said.

In the first year, students from schools attending the Global Grand Challenges Summit will be eligible to apply for the scholarships. In later years, the program will be expanded to additional schools. Students who are chosen will receive an expense-paid year to pursue research opportunities related to the grand challenges at one of those institutions.

“The grand challenges can’t be met by one group of people in one field. Finding the right solutions requires a focused, global effort that brings together people from different disciplines and backgrounds to develop new ideas,” said Louis Martin-Vega, dean of the College of Engineering at NC State. “By linking some of the world's top graduate students with leading U.S. researchers, the Vest Scholarships will be an important part of this collaborative effort.”

For more information about Durham, visit this website.

Duke's Graduate and Professional Schools Highly Rated in Latest U.S. News Rankings

Duke University’s graduate and professional schools continue to rank among the top institutions in their disciplines, according to the latest rankings from U.S. News & World Report.

Duke’s medical school tied for fifth for research, up from a tie for sixth last year; the nursing school tied for seventh, its highest ranking ever; the law school remained 11th; and the Fuqua School of Business rose two places to 12th.

For the second consecutive year, the Pratt School of Engineering rose two places in the rankings, to end up in a tie for 31st.

Medical school deans and faculty selected the best medical specialty programs, and Duke was recognized in geriatrics (fourth), internal medicine (fourth), women’s health (fifth), AIDS (eighth) and family medicine (10th). It tied for 41st in primary care.

Under health disciplines, Duke’s physician assistant program was rated first. The School of Nursing’s pediatric nurse practitioner program was rated fifth, its adult nurse practitioner and gerontological nurse practitioner programs were each ranked 10th, and its nursing-anesthesia program was tied for 11th.

Within the business school ratings, Duke was ranked third in marketing, fourth for executive MBA program, fourth in international (up from a tie for sixth last year), ninth in management and 12th in finance.

Within engineering, Duke ranked fourth for biomedical and bioengineering, 21st for environment/environmental health, 24th for mechanical engineering, 28th for computer engineering and 31st for electrical/electronic communications.

In a new category, U.S. News asked the people who do the hiring at the nation’s top law firms to rate the academic quality of each law school, and Duke finished in a tie for eighth. Within the law school rankings, Duke was rated 11th for intellectual property law.

In addition, the magazine republished older rankings for numerous other doctoral programs and health fields, including the social sciences and humanities.

According to U.S. News, the magazine’s methodology is based on two types of data: “expert opinion about program excellence and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school’s faculty, research, and students.” The magazine said its data came from surveys of “more than 1,200 programs and some 13,000 academics and professionals, conducted during the fall of 2010 and early 2011.”