Cal State L.A.'s engineering program ranked
among nation's best for a decade

Los Angeles, CA -- U.S.News & World Report 2009 "America's Best Colleges" issue has ranked California State University, Los Angeles' engineering program among the nation's best undergraduate programs for the tenth year in a row. Cal State L.A. is the only public undergraduate (master's-awarding) university in the greater Los Angeles area making the top of the list.

Using a reputational survey sent in the spring of 2008, U.S.News ranked the engineering program at Cal State L.A.'s College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology #34 among the Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (non-Ph.D.) in the United States.

To appear on U.S.News' undergraduate engineering survey, a school must have an undergraduate engineering program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Accredited undergraduate engineering programs are split into two groups: those schools whose highest engineering degree offered is a Ph.D. and those schools whose highest engineering degree offered is a bachelor's or master's degree. According to U.S.News, schools whose highest engineering degree is a bachelor's or master's tend to be more focused on undergraduate education.

Reflecting the excellence of Cal State L.A.'s engineering programs, a robotic rodent designed by a team of Cal State L.A. students recently placed first at the 2008 Intercollegiate MicroMouse Competition; and this summer Cal State L.A.'s student-built supermileage vehicle, the new Super Eagle II, was named Best Looking Vehicle at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Supermileage competition in Marshall, Mich. Earlier this year, a team of Cal State L.A. engineering students placed first in a concrete bowling ball competition at the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) Pacific Southwest Regional Conference; and another team designed a boundary-layer turbine that placed first in the University Category at the WESTEC 2008 Manufacturing Challenge cosponsored by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Additionally, Cal State L.A.'s ASCE student chapter was awarded the 2008 "Best Student Chapter of the Year" for the Los Angeles section.

Cal State L.A.'s College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology is also home to the following award-winning student projects: Solar Eagle III solar car, Mini Baja all-terrain vehicle, the concrete canoe, a glass bridge model, and an electricity-powered recumbent tricycle. Its original supermileage car was first in the U.S. in the 2004 SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Contest with 1,615 miles per gallon fuel efficiency. In 2006, Cal State L.A.'s mechanical engineering team became the first university crew west of the Mississippi--and the second overall--to achieve successful flight powered by fuel cells.

As one of six colleges at Cal State L.A., the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology is divided into five departments--the Department of Civil Engineering; the Department of Computer Science; the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; the Department of Mechanical Engineering; and the Department of Technology. Collectively, these departments offer 12 undergraduate programs, four graduate programs and two teaching credentials. Nearly 80 faculty and staff service more than 1,700 Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology students. The College fosters a unique study environment where faculty and staff are pledged to the success of students; an environment where the average class doesn't exceed 30 students and professors know their students by name, not number. Committed to study programs that educate through theory, practice and experiment, Cal State L.A. graduates highly skilled engineers, computer scientists and technologists who are prepared to face the rapidly changing demands of industry, business, education, and government. The College offers a hands-on curriculum and early research opportunities to prepare students for advanced studies and a fast-paced work environment. The NASA University Research Center is the first and only one of its kind in California. www.calstatela.edu/academic/ecst/

Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles' civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 205,000 alumni--with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds--reflect the city's dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. www.calstatela.edu