Many of the schools in this ranking are ancient academies that have shaped the history of science since the enlightenment. The University of California at Santa Cruz, however, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year.
So, how did such a young school earn a spot among such illustrious company? Well, for starters Santa Cruz has grown substantially despite its youth. It now has 15,000 undergraduate and 1,500 graduate students who study in 65 majors and 41 graduate programs.
But Santa Cruz has done more than just attract large numbers of students; It has also built a world-class faculty. Its instructors include 14 members of national academy of sciences, 26 members of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences, and 35 members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In 2003, the university initiated a $330-million program to develop a new university-affiliated research center. Now, the school’s research is organized into two separate research units: the Institute of Marine Sciences and the Santa Cruz Institute of Particle Physics.
