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Old 05-08-2008, 09:45 AM   #42
Alexandre
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Threads: 157
Posts: 11,269
atnyu, the number of NAS faculty teaching at an institution is more a function of location than academic excellence. Even with relatively few NAS members, Michigan's departments are among the top ranked in academe. NUY and Michigan are tied in Math and Economics, but in most other traditional academic disciplines, Michigan is ranked significantly higher than NYU.

Biology:
#15 Michigan (tied with Columbia and Wisconsin)
#58 NYU

Chemistry:
#16 Michigan (tied with PSU, Princeton and UNC)
NYU not ranked among the top 50

Computer Science:
#13 Michigan (tied with UCLA and Maryland)
#31 NYU

Economics:
#11 Michigan (tied with Columbia, UCLA and Wisconsin)
#15 NYU

English:
#12 English (tied with Duke and UVa)
#23 NYU

Geology:
#5 Michigan (Columbia)
NYU not ranked among the top 25

History:
#7 Michigan (tied with Columbia)
#22 NYU

Mathematics:
#9 Michigan (tied with Columba...again and NYU)

Physics:
#13 Michigan (tied with Maryland and Penn)
#42 NYU

Political Science:
#3 Michigan
#18 NYU

Psychology
#2 Michigan (tied with Cal)
#36 NYU

Sociology
#3 Michigan
#22 NYU

At the end of the day, a university's faculty numbers in the thousands. Most universities have fewer than 100 members of the NAS. So, how many of those thousands are members of the NAS is an interesting statistic to be sure, but I would be more concerned with the quality of the faculty that aren't members members of the NAS!
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