"We are pleased to report that the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) is ranked first in industrial and manufacturing engineering in the annual U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges issue and U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate School guide," said Chelsea C. White III, ISyE School Chair. "Although we are aware of the issues surrounding such rankings, we take pride in the fact that our hard work and dedication to excellence in education and research continues to be recognized by our peers."

For the nineteenth consecutive year, the Stewart School maintained its position as the number one graduate program for industrial engineering according to the U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate School guide. Also ranked among the top ten in their fields were Georgia Tech's biomedical (#2), aerospace (#4), environmental ((#5), civil (#6), electrical (#6), mechanical (#6), computer (#7), nuclear (#8), and materials science (#8) engineering programs.

U.S. News & World Report released its America's Best Colleges rankings in August 2009. This issue marks the fifteenth year that the Stewart School has ranked as the foremost program of its kind in the nation at the undergraduate level within the industrial/manufacturing engineering category.

The report recognized Georgia Tech as the #7 public university in the nation and as having the #5 engineering program in the nation. The Institute's College of Engineering, the largest in the nation, had seven of its schools ranked among the top five in their respective disciplines. In addition to housing the nation's top industrial engineering program, Georgia Tech was recognized for its aerospace (#2), biomedical (#3), civil (#3), mechanical (#4), electrical (#5), environmental (#5), computer (#6), materials science (#7), and chemical (#9) engineering programs. The College of Management also rose from #35 last year to #31 in the rankings this year.

Each year, the publication collects data from educational institutions and ranks the nation's top programs in each discipline using indicators such as program size, external reputation, student selectivity, faculty honors, and research activity.