Division of Biology and Biological Sciences highly ranked

Jan. 26, 2007 -- Washington University's Division of Biology and Biological Sciences (DBBS) has 10 of its 12 programs ranked in the top 10 among 166 large research universities, according to Academic Analytics' Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index (FSP Index), a new quantitative method for ranking doctoral programs at research universities. See previous Record story on Academic Analytics' annual index here.

Among the Ph.D. programs in DBBS, ecology and evolutionary biology was ranked first, plant biology third, and molecular biology, microbiology/pathology were each ranked fourth in the list. The programs in biochemistry, bioinformatics, cell biology, developmental biology, genetics and immunology were also ranked in the top 10.

DBBS, organized in 1973, is a consortium of university departments from the schools of Medicine, Arts & Sciences and Engineering & Applied Science that together provide interdisciplinary training for full-time Ph.D. and M.D./Ph.D. students. More than 350 faculty and 600 graduate students are affiliated with one or more of 12 broad training programs within DBBS. Faculty in these programs take responsibility for all divisional activities, including recruiting, admissions, advising, instructional courses/seminars and research training.

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*Fogg, Piper. "A New Standard for Measuring Doctoral Programs." The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 12, 2007; Vol. LII, Number 19.