UChicago Announces Plan to Strengthen Physics

truth123
Thu, 09 Aug 2012 13:49:48 +0000

The University put out this news release talking about a new faculty appointment that kicks off an effort to strengthen the physics department (which was number one under Enrico Fermi):

[Physics initiative launches with hiring of Dam Thanh Son | UChicago News](http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2012/08/08/physics-initiative-launches-hiring-dam-thanh-son)

People talk a lot on CC about UChicago’s increasing popularity among students but this will also have an effect on faculty recruitment as well (and UChicago, of course, always had a strong faculty).

The physics initiative, along with the push to strengthen the Biological Sciences Division, should have an affect on UChicago’s overall ranking. (Even when UChicago had a so-so biological sciences division, the University was rated in the top 5 in faculty in the U.S. by the National Research Council.) When you consider that about 50% of a school’s arts and sciences ranking is determined by biological sciences and physical sciences, you can see how important can this can be for the University’s overall standing.

The effort to improve the Biological Sciences Division has already shown up in the U.S. News Medical School rankings, with Pritzker moving into the top 10. And the BSD has gone from #5 in the nation to #2 in the nation, based on amount of grant money per faculty member.