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Analytical Chemistry
Analytical chemists determine the structure, composition, and nature of substances by examining and identifying their various elements or compounds. Analytical chemists develop analytical techniques and study the relationships and interactions among the parts of compounds. They also identify the presence and concentration of chemical pollutants in air, water, and soil.
In the top-ranked program in analytical chemistry at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC), a first-year graduate student chooses an adviser and joins the adviser’s laboratory, which is “like joining a family,” says Royce Murray, a chemistry professor who first began teaching in the program in 1960. “You have a good student who’s interested and motivated, and you get that student to a certain level of understanding of where you think the interesting questions are and you say, ‘There’s the laboratory. Go! — and learn how to think for yourself.’”
Related article: North Carolina School Excels at Cutting-Edge Analytical Chemistry -
Nuclear Engineering
Nuclear engineers work in a range of disciplines, from environmental science to health care.
Students studying nuclear engineering and radiological sciences at the University of Michigan, a program ranked as the very best by U.S. News and World Report magazine, focus on subject areas that include fission reactor analysis, safety and radiation transport, nuclear materials, nuclear fusion and plasma physics, and nuclear radiation measurements and imaging.
More than a third of all medical procedures in the United States use nuclear techniques to create images of the internal human body, detect and measure biological processes and provide therapy. Around the world, commercial nuclear power plants use nuclear fission — the process of breaking up or splitting the nucleus of an atom and using the resulting energy to heat water into pressurized steam that drives a turbine generator to produce electricity.
Related article: As Need for Nuclear Engineers Grows, Michigan Program Rated First -
Fish and Wildlife
Seventeen percent of the graduate students in a renowned fisheries and wildlife sciences department at a U.S. university come from outside the United States.
They come from Austria, Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, China, Thailand and Taiwan. Sometimes they research or manage birds, mammals, reptiles or amphibians. Sometimes they research or manage aquatic animals and ecosystems, including shellfish, endangered species, sport fish and aquaculture fish.
The international graduate students work with American students at Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources, specifically in its Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, one of the oldest and most highly regarded programs of its kind in the United States.
Related article: Students Work on Fish and Wildlife Challenges Back Home -
Environmental
In the early 1970s, Indiana University took the pioneering step of combining environmental studies and public policy in a School of Public and Environmental Affairs. The idea was to bring people from various disciplines together to study people and their environments.
Today, Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) has a message on its Web site for students considering seeking admission to its internationally recognized programs: “This is the place for fearless problem solvers. You care about your community, your country, your world. You want to make a difference at the leadership level and you want a career that fulfills your passion for improving the planet.”
Related article: Indiana University Leads in Public and Environmental Affairs -
Civil Engineering
The ancient field of civil engineering, which takes its name in contradistinction to military engineering, deals with the design, construction and maintenance of bridges, roads, canals, dams and buildings. Civil engineers built the pyramids, the hanging gardens of Babylon, the Roman aqueducts, the Suez Canal and — in modern times, with help from more specialized engineers — the world’s skyscrapers.
The College of Engineering at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign is one of the world’s largest and most prestigious engineering institutions, with a long history of innovation and excellence. The college’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering sits perennially atop the rankings of undergraduate and graduate engineering programs.
Related article: University of Illinois Offers More than Top Engineering Program
