Most people in the Ames area know Iowa State is a school that focuses on engineering. Most people know that it’s pretty good at it. But recent rankings released from U.S. News and World Report magazine shows just how good it is: Iowa State’s college of engineering ranks 24th among all other public universities.

“It’s a very competitive process,” said Ted Okiishi, associate dean of engineering. “All colleges want to be near the top, and there’s big money involved. It’s a continual, year-round process to recruit and retain some of the world’s best faculty.”

The rank is a composite score of the rankings of the individual programs: Aerospace engineering and industrial and manufacturing systems engineering ranked 15th, while materials science and engineering ranked 20th.

Mechanical engineering and chemical and biological engineering ranked 22nd. Civil, construction and environmental engineering ranked 23rd, and electrical and computer engineering ranked 24th.

“Our program has several world-class programs, with some of the world’s most distinguished professors,” said Tom Shih, professor and chairman of aerospace engineering.

“In addition to that, we have also had the privilege to educate a significant number of highly distinguished people in industry, government and academia – indicating strength in education as well as research.”

Russell Strope, junior in aerospace engineering, said the natural feel and landscape of the campus is what swayed his decision.

“The university was close, and I really liked the campus – it’s pretty, and kind of homey,” he said. “The program here, I knew it was good, that’s why I looked here in the first place. This was both good-quality education and close to home; that’s what made up my mind.”

Nathan Kress, senior in civil engineering, knew he was coming here for a long time.

“The mother’s side of my family, all the way to my great-grandfather, came here,’ he said. “While that helped make up my mind, the quality of the education is very good here. If it wasn’t as good, I wouldn’t be here.”

Okiishi said the department has maintained a high ranking for a long time, going through several leadership changes.

“For the most part, we’ve had leaders – both at university and department levels- that have continuously moved the departments forward,” he said. “The bottom line is always, ‘Are we making it better for students?'”

The engineering program at Iowa State has produced some noteworthy alumni. Vance Coffman, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering in 1967, was the CEO of Lockheed Martin for six years, from 1998 to 2004. Michael Mack Jr. graduated with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering, and is the senior vice president and chief financial officer of John Deere.

Of course, no program is perfect.

“We have some areas that constantly need support. We need to constantly recruit and retain faculty,” Okiishi said. “Anything we can do to be more competitive would be good. Rankings are mainly based on reputation; what other educational leaders think of us. Nearly 50 percent of ranking is based on reputation, so we have to be constantly investing as much of our resources as possible into already strong programs.”

Strope said the professors in his major focus a lot on theory and not as much on real-world application.

That being said, however, there’s nothing wrong with the university taking pride in one of the strongest colleges in the nation.

“I actually think [the aerospace department] should be ranked higher than we are,” Shih said.