UH ocean programs rank among top 10 in nation
A new listing of graduate programs based on faculty productivity ranks the marine biology and biological oceanography and physical oceanography programs at the University of Hawaii at Manoa as among the top 10 in the nation.
The Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, produced by Academic Analytics, a for-profit company partially owned by the State University of New York at Stony Brook, examined the number of books and journals published, federal research grants received and awards and honors received by faculty at nearly 7,300 doctoral programs at 354 institutions from around the country.
"In both those areas we have some of the best faculty in the nation. So I'm not surprised," said Brian Taylor, dean of the School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology at UH-Manoa.
The marine biology and biological oceanography program at UH-Manoa ranked fourth in the country, and physical oceanography ranked sixth.
UH-Manoa was ahead of schools like the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of South Carolina.
The index noted that 89 percent of the 38 faculty members in marine biology and biological oceanography have had their work published in academic journals, and 82 percent of the faculty had their work cited by other scientists.
In physical oceanography, 84 percent of the 44 faculty had published articles in journals, and 75 percent have had their work cited by others.
Taylor cited UH researchers like oceanographers David Karl, who recently was named to the National Academy of Science, and Roger Lukas as among the top scientists in their field.
Taylor also noted that UH-Manoa benefits from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at Coconut Island.
"People in both the institute and the department do regularly publish. They publish a lot, and they receive a lot of funding and they're really good," Taylor said.
The rankings were reported earlier this month in the Chronicle of Higher Education.