The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, ranked first on the U.S. News & World Report and ARWU list of the best engineering schools and third on Payscale.com's list of schools with top-earning graduates. As of 2011, MIT’s research expenditures totaled more than $300 million. Other highly ranked Northeastern engineering schools include Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where students gain hands-on experience in the General Motors Collarborative Research Lab. Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, houses more than 100 interdisciplinary research centers and institutes. Penn State University has an engineering endowment of more than $127 million as of 2011. Other notable Northeastern schools include the Polytechnic Institute of New York, the United States Military Academy at West Point, Cooper Union in New York City and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
The Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Engineering, located in Atlanta, was ranked fourth in 2010 by U.S. News & World Report, fifth by ARWU and seventh by Payscale.com. As of 2011, the school had more than $115.8 million in annual research support. Other highly ranked Southern schools include the University of Texas' Cockrell School of Engineering, which has 136 endowed chairs and professorships. Texas A&M University at College Station offers research experience in subjects such as nanotechnology, energy and space exploration. Other notable Southern universities include Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Baylor University, Mercer University, Virginia Tech University and North Carolina State University.
The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor was ranked seventh in the world by ARWU in 2010 and eighth by U.S. News & World Report. The school operates more than 100 laboratories, institutes and centers focused on research topics from structural metallics to computer architecture. Other highly ranked schools include Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, which has invested more than $165 million in engineering facilities since 2002 and the University of Wisconsin in Madison, which operates 44 research centers and 15 research consortia. Other notable Midwestern schools include Ohio State University, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Milwaukee School of Engineering and Kettering University.
Stanford University’s School of Engineering, located in Stanford, California, was ranked second in 2010 by ARWU and U.S. News & World Report. As of 2011, the school’s annual research support totaled more than $122.7 million. The University of California Berkeley’s School of Engineering operates 39 research centers and institutions, including the Berkeley Initiative in Soft Computing, the Berkeley Stem Cell Center and the Center for Intelligent Systems. Other notable Western schools include Harvey Mudd College, California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, the U.S. Air Force Academy, California Institute of Technology and the Colorado School of Mines.