1995 was the first year that the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources was ranked the number one program in the U.S. for the specialty area of hydrogeology.  It remained the top program for more than a decade until the specialty area was no longer listed by U.S. News and World Report in their annual publication.  You can read about their specialty ranking system here. 

While the University of Arizona is widely known as the home of the NCAA champion Wildcat basketball team, that's not UA's only number one ranking.

 

Again this year, the HWR faculty are giving one another high fives as their hydrogeology program was ranked at the top of the heap by US News and World Report for the third year in a row.

 

Hydrogeology, the study of water beneath the surface of the ground, is one of several graduate specialties within UA's HWR curriculum.  Although HWR is a department within the College of Engineering and Mines**, US News ranks hydrogeology as a geology specialty.  This ranking is listed on the U.S. News web site (usnews.com/usnews/edu/beyond/gradrank/gbgeosp4.htm) and also published by the magazine, "America's Best Graduate Schools." 

 

UA HWR is an extremely active research department within engineering and mines, with an average of $288,000 in research funding per faculty member annually.  [Note: The department now averages $5.83 million in research funding annually (average over the past 9 years).]

 

HWR Department Head Victor Baker says, "We're excited and pleased to see our program highly ranked for the third year in this report.  I think this reflects the high quality of our entire program."

 

The strong graduate programs in HWR also benefit the department's undergraduates, many of whom are involved in the department's research.

 

UA HWR was the first hydrology department in the country and continues to be ranked among the best, drawing some of the top faculty and students in the discipline from around the world.