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UMD Researchers in the Top Scientists World Ranking By Guide2Research

On May 11, Guide2Research released its 2021 7th edition of the top scientists ranking for computer science & electronics. The rankings are geared towards acknowledging the contributions of these top researchers and recognizing them as leaders in the field of computer science and electronics. Guide2Research ranked UMD Computer Science (UMD CS) as #9 in the world and #8 in the nation.

The prominence of UMD CS & ECE faculty, as measured by the citation frequency of their work, is due to the importance of their research and their capacity to communicate it. This implies that UMD students will be taught the latest research from UMD faculty, who are innovative leaders in the field.  Our faculty are sought out by colleagues, corporations, and governments for advice and collaboration, bringing new challenges for graduate students to pursue.  The groundbreaking work that has been done at UMD attracts younger researchers and strong graduate students, contributing to the vibrant atmosphere in the CS & ECE Departments.

Ramalingam “Rama” Chellappa (Ranked # 56 in the World , # 39 in the Nation) , a college park  professor in electrical and computer engineering (ECE) is a pioneer in facial recognition technology. An internationally recognized expert in computer vision, machine learning, pattern recognition and artificial intelligence, Chellappa's work has had an impact on areas including biometrics, smart cars, forensics, and 2D and 3D modeling of faces, objects, and terrain and has a range of applications—including medicine. Chellappa has been a faculty member of the University for 29 years and served as chair of the department of ECE from 2011-2018 and as the Director of Center for Automation Research for 12 years. A Fellow of IEEE, IAPR, OSA, AAAS, ACM, AAAI and NAI, Chellappa holds eight patents. He is currently the  Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering (School of Medicine) at Johns Hopkins. Chellappa has received many awards from IEEE, the International Association of Pattern Recognition, and the University of Maryland.

Larry S. Davis (Ranked # 74 in the World , # 50 in the Nation) , a college park professor in the department of computer science is a world leading expert in computer vision . An Emeritus Professor, Davis’s research focuses on object/action recognition/scene analysis, event modeling and recognition, image and video databases, tracking, human movement modeling, 3-D human motion capture, and camera networks. He was the inaugural director of the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies and served as the chair of the department of computer science from 1999-2012. Davis is also affiliated with the computer vision Laboratory in CfAR for which he served as the head from 1981-1986. A fellow of IEEE, IAPR, ACM, Davis received the USM Board of Regents Research Excellence Award in 2019. Davis is currently a senior principal scientist at Amazon, while continuing to perform research and advise several graduate students in the UMD, department of computer science and UMIACS.

Dinesh Manocha (Ranked # 76 in the World , # 51 in the Nation) , is a Distinguished University Professor of the University of Maryland, where he is the Paul Chrisman Iribe Professor of Computer Science and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is also the Phi Delta Theta/Matthew Mason Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Manocha’s research focuses on AI and robotics, computer graphics, augmented/virtual reality, and  scientific computing. He co-leads a major research group UMD GAMMA with more than  25 members on geometric and simulation algorithms with applications to computer graphics, robotics, affective computing,  and virtual environments. The GAMMA group has won more than 17 best paper awards at leading conferences and  developed a number of software technologies that are licensed to more than 60 commercial vendors. A Fellow of AAAI, AAAS, ACM, IEEE and the Sloan foundation, Manocha is a member of the ACM SIGGRAPH Academy, and a Bézier Award recipient from the Solid Modeling Association. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from IIT Delhi and the Distinguished Career in Computer Science Award from Washington Academy of Sciences.  Manocha was also the co-founder of Impulsonic, a developer of physics-based audio simulation technologies, which was acquired by Valve Inc in November 2016.

Ben Shneiderman (Ranked # 77 in the World , # 52 in the Nation) , is an Emeritus Professor in the department of computer science  and the Founding Director (1983-2000) of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory. A fellow of the AAAS, ACM and IEEE, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, Shneiderman’s cutting edge research contributes to human-computer interaction and information visualization, including the direct manipulation concept, clickable web-link, touchscreen keyboards, dynamic query sliders for Spotfire, development of treemaps, innovative network visualization strategies for NodeXL, and temporal event sequence analysis for electronic health records. Shneiderman received the ACM CHI (Computer Human Interaction) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.

K. J. Ray Liu (Ranked # 273 in the World , # 177 in the Nation) , is a Distinguished University Professor of the University of Maryland, where he is the Christine Kim Eminent Professor of Information Technology . He was the recipient of two IEEE Technical Field Awards: the 2021 IEEE Fourier Award for Signal Processing and the 2016 IEEE Leon K. Kirchmayer Graduate Teaching Award, IEEE Signal Processing Society 2009 Technical Achievement Award, IEEE Signal Processing Society 2014 Society Award, and over a dozen of best paper/invention awards. Recognized by Web of Science as a Highly Cited Researcher, He is a fellow of IEEE, AAAS, and U.S. National Academy of Inventors. Liu is the 2021 IEEE President-Elect. 

Ming C Lin (Ranked # 331 in the World , # 214 in the Nation) , is a Distinguished University Professor, Barry Mersky and Capital One Endowed Professor, former Elizabeth Stevinson Iribe Chair of Computer Science at University of Maryland at College Park, Parker Distinguished Professor Emerita at UNC Chapel Hill,  and an Amazon Scholar.  An expert in virtual reality, Lin is known for her work on collision detection, physically-based modeling and simulation for computer graphics, robotics, and multimodal human-computer interaction. She has received several honors and awards, including NSF Young Faculty Career Award, Hettleman Prize for Scholarly Achievements, Beverly W. Long DistinguishedProfessor, IEEE VGTC VR Technical Achievement Award, Washington Academy of Sciences Distinguished Career Award in Computer Science, and several best paper awards. She is a Fellow of ACM, IEEE and Eurographics, and a member of ACM SIGGRAPH Academy.

Victor R. Basili   (Ranked # 442 in the World , # 279 in the Nation) , is an Emeritus Professor at the department of computer science. Basili is well known for his works on measuring, evaluating, and improving the software development process, as a pioneer of empirical software engineering, He served as the department chair from 1982 to 1988. Basili was one of the founders and principals in the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) at NASA/GSFC (1976 - 2001). Basili created the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Science (UMIACS) and was the founder of the Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software Engineering – Maryland (CESE), where he served as Executive Director from 1998 - 2004. Basili’s research work focused on measuring, evaluating, and improving the software development process and product. He is also a fellow of IEEE and ACM.

Hanan Samet (Ranked # 499 in the World , # 311 in the Nation) , is a Distinguished University Professor. He is a pioneer in research on quadtrees and other multidimensional spatial data structures for sorting spatial information. He has profoundly influenced the theory and application of these areas of research and his impact can be seen in many real-world applications including Google Earth, the world’s most widely used graphics application.  Samet recently developed the NewsStand CoronaViz  - a web application to track the progress of the COVID-19 virus over time to be better prepared to anticipate its emergence and spread. A fellow of IEEE, ACM, AAAS and IAPR, Samet has many prestigious awards to his credit including IEEE Computer Society W. Wallace McDowell Award, ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award and UCGIS Research Award. He was the Founding chair of ACM SIGSPATIAL and Founding Editor-in- chief of ACM Transactions on Spatial Algorithms and Systems.

Jonathan Katz (Ranked # 679 in the World , # 416 in the Nation) , is a Professor in the department of Computer Science. Katz is an international leader in cybersecurity who has worked on various aspects of cryptography, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, and theoretical computer science. He served as the director of the Maryland Cybersecurity Center at the University of Maryland from 2013- 2019, and was named a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher at UMD in 2017-2018. He is also an IACR Fellow. From 2019-2020, Katz held the title of Eminent Scholar in Cybersecurity in the Volgenau School of Engineering at George Mason University. 

Yiannis Aloimonos (Ranked # 960 in the World , # 594 in the Nation) , is a Professor in the department of Computer Science and the director of the Computer Vision Laboratory. He leads the Perception and Robotics Group at the University of Maryland. His research is devoted to the principles governing the design and analysis of real-time systems that possess perceptual capabilities, for the purpose of both explaining animal vision and designing seeing machines. He is known for his work on Active Perception and visual motion analysis. Aloimonos introduced action grammars as a framework for understanding human activity and robot learning. His research work also led to the introduction of language tools into the Robotics community. During the past five years his research has been supported by the EU, the NSF, ONR, DARPA and NIH.

Guide2Research is an online research portal widely used by the computer-science and electronics community. It bases its rankings on the h-index (measure of scientific research impact) provided by Google Scholar and by DBLP, a German-based computer science bibliography website. It includes only leading scientists with an H-index of at least 40.

The Department welcomes comments, suggestions and corrections.  Send email to editor [-at-] cs [dot] umd [dot] edu .

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Stanford/Elsevier's Top 2% Scientist Rankings

Geography and environment excels in latest rankings, autumn 2023.

LSE's Department of Geography and Environment delivers a standout performance in the  Stanford/Elsevier list, highlighting the top 2% of the most cited scientists across the globe .

In the rankings based on citations for 2022, which tends to favour researchers with a significant current impact, a total of 12 departmental researchers earned a place on the list. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose secured the top global position in Urban and Regional Planning.

We also excelled in the broader LSE context, boasting a strong presence among the 124 LSE researchers featured in this ranking. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, Eric Neumayer, and J. Vernon Henderson occupied three of the top four LSE positions, with Michael Storper among the top eight.

Other current staff prominently featured in this ranking include Neil Lee, Hyun Bang Shin, Riccardo Crescenzi, Stephen Gibbons, Gabriel Ahlfeldt, and Giles Atkinson.

Our performance is equally stellar when switching to the ranking that accounts for citations throughout a researcher's career. We captured four of the top seven LSE positions, with Eric Neumayer leading the charge among the 112 LSE academics featured in this list.

The exceptional showing by the Department of Geography and Environment underscores our commitment to groundbreaking research and our status as a global leader in the field. This remarkable achievement highlights the talent and dedication of our researchers and faculty.

About Stanford/Elsevier's Top 2% Scientist Rankings

Now in its sixth iteration, this prestigious list identifies the world's leading researchers, representing approximately 2% of all scientists worldwide. It encompasses standardised data on citations, h-index, and a wide range of bibliometric indicators. 

Researchers are classified into 22 scientific fields and 174 sub-fields based on Science-Metrix's established classification, drawing from Scopus data provided by Elsevier through ICSR Lab.

Research Find out more

University, Subject, Country, Region, World

World scientists rankings 2024.

• World (1605132)
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Research.com Ranks 17 Maryland Smith Professors Among World’s “Best Scientists”

Research.com named 17 scholars from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business in its latest “best scientists” ranking. The Smith School ranked No. 4 in the United States and No. 5 worldwide in the 2023 Business and Management university ranking, with 11 scholars on the list.

Research.com, a data-driven platform for scientists that uses machine learning and big data analytics, compiles annual rankings of the best scholars in a variety of academic areas. Smith School faculty were ranked on lists for business and management, economics and finance, mathematics, engineering and technology, and computer science.

The rankings are based on a detailed evaluation of nearly 167,000 profiles on Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Graph. The latest rankings rely on bibliometric data, collected on Dec. 21, 2022, and consolidated from various academic sources and citation-based metrics. Other factors include the rate of published work made within a specific field of study, along with the awards and accomplishments of the scholars.

These Smith School faculty made the lists, with some faculty recognized in more than one area:

Business and Management:

• Rajshree Agarwal , Rudolph P. Lamone Chair and Professor in Entrepreneurship; Director, Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets
• Martin Dresner , Professor and Chair of Logistics, Business and Public Policy
• Curtis Grimm (deceased), Charles A. Taff Chair of Economics and Strategy
• Lawrence Gordon , EY Alumni Professor of Managerial Accounting and Information Assurance
• P. K. Kannan , Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, Dean's Chair in Marketing Science
• Henry Lucas , Robert H. Smith Professor of Information Systems Emeritus
• Roland Rust , Distinguished University Professor; David Bruce Smith Chair in Marketing; Executive Director, Center for Excellence in Service
• Debra L. Shapiro , Clarice Smith Professor of Management & Organization
• Ken Smith , Professor Emeritus
• Henry P. “Hank” Sims , Professor Emeritus
• Michel Wedel , Distinguished University Professor and PepsiCo Chair in Consumer Science

Economics and Finance:

• Dilip Madan , Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Finance
• Vojislav "Max" Maksimovic , William A. Longbrake Chair in Finance
• Lemma Senbet , The William E. Mayer Chair Professor of Finance

Engineering and Technology :

• Michael Ball , Professor Emeritus, Decision, Operations and Information Technologies
• Michael Fu , Smith Chair of Management Science
• Zhi-Long Chen , Orkand Corporation Professor of Management Science

Mathematics:

• Bruce Golden , France-Merrick Chair in Management Science

Computer Science:

• Rajshree Agarwal
• Martin Dresner
• Lawrence A. Gordon
• P.K. Kannan
• Henry Lucas
• Roland Rust
• Debra L. Shapiro
• Ken G. Smith
• Henry P. Sims Jr.
• Michel Wedel
• Dilip B. Madan
• Vojislav Maksimovic
• Lemma Senbet
• Michael O. Ball
• Zhi-Long Chen
• Bruce L. Golden
• World Class Faculty & Research
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About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business

The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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• NATURE INDEX
• 15 June 2023
• Correction 22 June 2023

Nature Index Annual Tables 2023: first health-science ranking reveals big US lead

• Bianca Nogrady

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Biologist Benjamin Jin works on immunotherapy for human papillomavirus-positive cancers at the US National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. The United States is the most prolific country in health-sciences research output in the Nature Index. Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty

The United States dominates global health-sciences publishing in the Nature Index Annual Tables 2023, the first to track output in high-quality medical journals. Major government and industry investment has cemented the country’s status as the world leader in health-sciences output. Its closest competitor, China, overtook the United States in natural-sciences output in 2022 .

The Annual Tables rank nations, territories and institutions according to their Share , a metric that tracks the proportion of authors from an institution or region on each paper published in a year in the journals tracked in the Nature Index. The inclusion of 64 medical journals in this year’s tables adds 9,200 articles to the database for 2022 and allows publication output to be tracked across the health sciences as well as four existing natural-science categories (physical sciences, chemistry, Earth and environmental sciences and biological sciences, formerly referred to as life sciences).

In this first ranking of nations by health-sciences output , the US Share was 5,352, well above that of China, at 1,287, and the United Kingdom, at 963 (see ‘Leagues apart’). In the natural sciences, China leads with a Share of 19,373 and the United States is second, with 17,610.

Source: Nature Index

Health-science research is a major focus of federal spending in the United States, says Carol Robbins, a senior resources analyst at the US National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, in Alexandria, Virginia. “Federal funding for health-related research and development is almost as high as funding for defence-related research and development,” she says. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) alone invested around US$42 billion in health and medical research in 2022, and is hoping to increase its budget to $51.1 billion in 2024. The pharmaceutical sector in the United States also spends big: in 2019, it invested an estimated $83 billion in research and development.

Health-research spending is seen as a vote-winner, says Jonathan Adams, chief scientist at the Institute for Scientific Information in London, the research arm of analytics firm Clarivate, which in April published a report on US research trends over the past 15 years . This found that national research funding prioritized the NIH over other government departments and agencies. Almost half of the US civilian research and development budget now goes into the NIH’s coffers, the report notes.

“There is a lot of money going into health — and the research that underpins” it, says Adams. He adds that health-research funding is a popular talking point for politicians on the campaign trail. Among the leading countries in health-sciences research, the United States outspends its closet competitors by a large margin (see ‘Healthy investment’).

Source: WHO

The United States has a long history of investment and success in the medical sciences. Nearly one-quarter of its 406 Nobel prizes have been awarded for work in physiology or medicine. “If you’re good at something, and you have people who are winning Nobel prizes, and facilities that are recognized globally, then they get backed further because you can put forward some pretty coherent arguments about why you should get further investment,” Adams says.

But such strength in the health sciences doesn’t mean that the United States will always dominate. Adams says that China and India are likely to challenge the US lead in future. “That side of the Chinese research economy is going to expand,” he says.

Small nation strength

In terms of population size, the Netherlands is the smallest country to make it into the top ten in the health-science category. With roughly 18 million people, it has an outsized impact, ranking eighth in the Nature Index Annual Tables 2023, with a Share of 358 — above Japan and Italy.

Dutch institutional spending on medical research and development has leapt forward in recent years, from €67 million (US$72 million today) in 2019 to €235 million in 2020. This is a relatively large proportion of the country’s overall research budget, compared with other nations. The Netherlands ranks fourth globally in the number of patent applications for medical technology, sixth for biotechnology patents and eighth for pharmaceutical patents.

Prolific institution

At an institutional level, the United States dominates, taking eight of the leading ten positions in the 2023 Annual Tables for health sciences (see ‘Show of strength’) The University of Toronto in Canada is one exception, in third position after Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the NIH.

Leah Cowen, vice-president of research, innovation and strategic initiatives, says that several factors contribute to the University of Toronto’s success. One is a strong emphasis on collaboration; for example, 14 research hospitals belong to the Toronto Academic Health Science Network, which brings researchers and clinicians together to develop and test treatments. This year, University of Toronto researchers partnered with clinician scientists at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto to explore the use of magnetically guided robotic nanoscalpels to target the cancer cells in a type of brain tumour called glioblastoma. Another field that has benefited from collaboration is regenerative medicine: the University of Toronto has long established its legacy through pioneering work on stem cells, Cowen says.

The university has also fostered initiatives focused on ‘grand questions’ that bring together researchers from diverse disciplines to tackle subjects such as heart failure, personalized medicine, ageing and the role of cell organelles called mitochondria in human health.

Nature Index Annual Tables 2023: China tops natural-science table

“We’re really committed to engaging on the full spectrum of research, all the way from state-of-the-art pioneering fundamental research through to clinical research, knowledge translation, clinical trials, drug discovery and bio-innovation,” Cowen says. And that’s not limited to faculty members; she says the university encourages students to explore commercial opportunities and entrepreneurship, as well.

Cowen says Toronto has won substantial government grants, such as Can$200 million (US$147 million) from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund for the university’s Acceleration Consortium, which is exploring the use of artificial intelligence and robotics in drug discovery and new materials design. However, the outlook for funding in health-science research is not as promising in Canada as it is in the United States . In real terms, Cowen says, overall federal funding for health-science research has not kept pace with inflation.

There is plenty of advocacy for improving Canadian funding for health-science research, says Cowen. “Despite limited investment, we’re really punching above our weight,” she says. “We’re achieving exceptional impact, so further investment would yield extraordinary additional reward.”

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01867-4

Updates & Corrections

Correction 22 June 2023 : An earlier version of this story erroneously stated that there are 15 research hospitals in the Toronto Academic Health Science Network. In fact, there are 14.

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Research rank faculty hold a PhD, MD, or equivalent degree. There are three categories of research ranks: Associate Research Scientist (ARS) , Research Scientist (RS) , and Senior Research Scientist (SRS) , as detailed in the Yale Faculty Handbook .

Teaching is not required for these ranks. Persons who are asked to undertake teaching should also be given a teaching appointment as a lecturer . In such circumstances, an appropriate portion of the salary may be paid from a teaching budget; however, for research appointees who are already employed full-time, the total compensation cannot be increased by payment for teaching.

Research rank faculty conduct or oversee research as a skilled or advanced member of a research group, center, or core. Typically support for the position is derived from PI sponsor or research program and there is no expectation, if not otherwise specified by the sponsoring PI, for the research rank faculty to obtain independent funding on which they serve as sole PI.

The career pathway descriptions below for research rank faculty ( Associate Research Scientist [ARS] , Research Scientist [RS] , and Senior Research Scientist [SRS] ) are meant to provide guidance on the hiring and career development of research rank faculty. In practice, however, many research rank faculty engage in activities that are a blend of different activities or that shift over time based on funding and other laboratory or institutional priorities. Advancement in the research ranks may reflect essential contributions and outstanding achievements in a very specific area or across different domains of research.

Areas of Concentration

1. area of concentration : research projects.

Associate Research Scientists (ARS) , Research Scientists (RS) , and Senior Research Scientists (SRS) whose area of concentration is on Research Projects are pursuing longer-term research careers within existing research programs at Yale (not as independent investigators) as well as some who wish to obtain experiences and skillsets for careers in other research-related industries. They typically work on one or more research projects in the laboratory of one or more PIs.

Roles and responsibilities vary but typically involve some combination of project direction, research execution, research staff/trainee training and supervision, leading or assisting in the development of papers for publication and conference presentations, and supporting the preparation of grant applications and reports to funding agencies.

2. Area of Concentration : Research Methods

Associate Research Scientists (ARS) , Research Scientists (RS) , and Senior Research Scientists (SRS) whose area of concentration is in Research Methods play a pivotal role in the laboratory of one (or more) PI or a research core/center. They are often highly skilled experts in the development or utilization of research materials (e.g., specimen, agents, assays, assessments, diagnostics), techniques or technologies. They may serve important roles as biostatisticians, research design consultants, and managers of major laboratory equipment or trainers for use of services.

Their essential, high-level technical or methodological experience promotes the success of multiple investigators within or across sections/divisions/departments and often in support of core facilities and major centers. The contributions of their specialized or consultative expertise within the research team ensures laboratory productivity, delivery of core services, and competitive grant applications.

3. Area of Concentration : Research Administration

Associate Research Scientists (ARS) , Research Scientists (RS) , and Senior Research Scientists (SRS) whose area of concentration is in Research Administration serve a critical administrative and oversight role that requires significant scientific knowledge and expertise. These individuals may be providing expertise in the implementation and management of large grants or numerous research projects within or across sections, departments, centers or institutions. They may serve as the operational director of a research core or administrative director of large center grants or multisite studies.

These are experienced and skilled leaders of scientific personnel and managers of research environments and resources. They oversee critical research infrastructure and provide essential support to faculty scientists and their trainees, students, and staff. The pursuit of one’s own area of research interests is not expected in this pathway. It is anticipated that this pathway would be appropriate for a very limited number of faculty within a department, and that the position would be funded by multiple PIs and/or departmental or school-wide programs.

Research Rank Review and Reappointment Process

There is no limit on the number of reappointments at Associate Research Scientist (ARS) , Research Scientist (RS) , and Senior Research Scientist (SRS) ranks assuming there is PI or other departmental, core/center, or school support for the position. Contributions to the laboratory, center, or field should be evaluated during annual professional development reviews by the PI or center leader.

ARS and RS faculty should be reviewed to determine readiness for promotion at a minimum of 5-year intervals. ARS faculty who have been in rank for 1 year are eligible for renewal of their appointment for terms of up to 3 years contingent on satisfactory performance and available funding for the duration of the proposed term.

Research Rank Promotion Readiness

It is unusual for promotion to occur from Associate Research Scientist (ARS) to Research Scientist (RS) before 3 years or from Research Scientist (RS) to Senior Research Scientist (SRS) before 5 years in the lower rank. Exceptions can occur when there is evidence of extraordinary productivity, achievements, or recognition beyond an individual PI’s laboratory or Yale. Years spent as a staff scientist, research faculty or research administrator at another institution or in industry can factor into the timing of promotion.

At the time of promotion, all activities conducted by the research faculty are considered. Indicators for promotion may vary somewhat as a function of which area of concentration (Research Projects, Methods, or Administration) that best describes their main research focus, but typically include evidence of outstanding contributions to the success of research projects in two or more of the following areas in the prior 5 years:

• First author publications and scientific presentations
• Co-Investigator on larger grants or PI/Co-PI on smaller grants (extramural or intramural)
• Recognition by field for specialized technical, methodological, or scientific expertise, creativity, and/or innovation
• Recognition by PIs and colleagues for essential contributions to the success of projects, cores, or
• centers at Yale
• Evidence of outstanding operational leadership or support of numerous projects and
• investigators within and/or beyond Yale
• Significant contributions to the writing of research SOPs, sections of successful grant applications and renewals, and other important reports to funders/sponsors

Research Faculty Transition to Ladder Faculty

There may be instances in which sufficient individual funding and other scientific/scholarly accomplishments merit consideration of the research faculty for a ladder track position. Transitioning of associate research scientists, research scientists or senior research scientists to the ladder ranks requires a national search. Only those who achieve Senior Research Scientist (SRS) status may be considered for targeted appointments to the ladder faculty, most often at the associate professor rank.

Associate Research Scientist

Research scientist, senior research scientist, description:.

This appointment is given to individuals who are engaged in scholarly research in association with a faculty member or as a member of a research group. Such individuals will normally have at least two years of research experience following a PhD (or equivalent), will have demonstrated professional ability in fields related to the work or program of the department or area concerned, and will be expected to contribute to it as a colleague.

Terms for this rank are for one year and renewable without limit.

Appointment to the associate research scientist rank does NOT require an RFP, search, letters of reference, formal review by department faculty, presentation to a YSM A&P committee, the BPO, or the Yale Corporation. Fringe benefits may vary according to the source of salary. Research appointees who are paid from grants should be informed by the principal investigator of any change in the status of the grant as soon as possible after the information becomes available.

Appointment to this rank requires:

• Non-Yale CV Cover Template with Curriculum Vitae
• Signed offer letter
• Workday entry

Reappointment information is summarized on a different webpage, and reappointment to this rank requires:

• Workday update

This appointment is given to persons who are engaged in scholarly or scientific research as advanced scholars or as senior members of a research group.

Terms for this rank can be for up to three years and renewable without limit.

Appointment to the research scientist rank does NOT require an RFP, search, presentation to a YSM A&P committee, the BPO, or the Yale Corporation. Fringe benefits may vary according to the source of salary. Research appointees who are paid from grants should be informed by the principle investigator of any change in the status of the grant as soon as possible after the information becomes available.

• Departmental A&P narrative
• Yale CV2A (part A only) highly recommended
• Letters of evaluation with referee list template and Chair's letter of solicitation
• Department Vote
• OAPD (department chair presentation not needed)

Promotion to this rank requires:

This appointment is appropriate for individuals of high professional attainment, outstanding ability, and critical importance to a major research program.

Term for this rank can be for up to five years and is renewable without limit.

Appointment to the senior research scientist rank does NOT require an RFP or search. Fringe benefits may vary according to the source of the salary. Research appointees who are paid from grants should be informed by the principal investigator of any change in the status of the grant as soon as possible after the information becomes available.

• Letters of evaluation with referral list template and Chair's letter of solicitation
• Department vote
• BPO (department chair presentation not needed)
• Yale Corporation

Documents & Links

• Non-Yale CV Cover Template
• ARS request for longer term

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Stanford - Elsevier's Top 2% Scientist Rankings

CoMSIRU is proud to announce that two of our esteemed directors, Prof Hans Beushausen, and Prof Mark Alexander have been listed among the top 2% scientists globally by Stanford University in the latest rankings data. The prestigious list identifies the world's leading researchers, representing approximately 2% of all scientists worldwide. The rankings consider factors like citations and a broad range of research impact metrics.

This recognition not only underscores their achievements but also reflects the collective excellence of our research community.

View the full list here .

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• Best Scientist in Canada; #21 in World: Salim Yusuf

3 November 2022

Salim Yusuf

PHRI Executive Director and Senior Scientist, Salim Yusuf , has been named #1 in Best Scientists in Canada, and #21 of Best Scientists in the World.

The first edition of Research.com ranking of top scientists – from all major areas of science – is based on scientist’s general H-index in a meticulous examination of 166,880 scientists on Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Graph.

The platform, Research.com – founded by Professor Imed Bouchrika – notes that:

“We believe that numbers are never meant to be an absolute measure to quantify the contributions of scientists. This is why we manually verify each profile and cross-correlate it against publications in a wide range of credible sources. Even though it’s not a metric defining a scientist’s position in the ranking, the amount of documents published in major journals and conference proceedings should constitute a reliable secondary indication of their contribution to research in a given discipline.

Salim Yusuf is joined by four other McMaster University scientists – Gordon Guyatt, Deborah Cook, Jack Hirsh , and Holger Schünemann – in the national and world rankings, as shown here. Congratulations to them all!

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Best Universities For Science in the UK: A New Scientist Careers Guide

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Best universities for science in the UK

Over centuries, the UK has established itself as a global educational powerhouse, with 11 of the current top 100 universities in the world according to the World University Rankings 2024 by Times Higher Education. 

Many well-known figures, especially in the scientific community, were UK graduates, such as Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, Charles Darwin, Rosalind Franklin, Alexander Fleming and Alan Turing.

According to UCAS, there were 596,590 applications for undergraduate studies for the January 2023 deadline, which applies to most courses. Of these, roughly 20 per cent were from outside the UK. If you wish to pursue a career in a scientific discipline , higher education in the UK can offer tremendously advantageous opportunities. 

This article will outline the top universities for the 6 most popular science courses – biological sciences, biomedical sciences, chemistry, computer science, geographical & environmental science, and physics and astronomy – according to the 2024 league table by The Complete University Guide.

The Complete University Guide is one of the most trusted national university rankings as they base their overall scores on the following factors: research quality, entry requirements, student satisfaction, and graduate prospects.

Biological sciences

Biological sciences is an incredibly broad discipline, covering everything from molecular biology to ecology . With such variety comes great flexibility, with degrees in biological sciences typically comprising various modules, ensuring you get a flavour of every subfield. This means you will be working in different settings, such as in a laboratory to study cells, or out in the field to assess plants.

Biological scientists often pursue a postgraduate degree later to work in academic research, but are also highly sought after in industrial or governmental sectors to tackle local or global challenges, such as biodiversity loss, food security and pandemics.

Top 5 universities

1 - University of Cambridge

Although Cambridge is ranked number 1 for biological sciences , it doesn’t offer an undergraduate degree in biological sciences only, but rather “natural sciences” that combine a range of physical and biological sciences, including chemistry. This allows you to pick and choose subjects of interest across disciplines. You may opt for a purely physical or biological path, or a mix of both. 

In your 3rd year, you can choose to remain broad or specialise in subjects such as biochemistry , neuroscience, zoology or plant sciences . Some subjects offer an additional 4th year to complete a research project and graduate with an MSci degree.

The unique course structure and high-quality teaching and research underpins the university’s dominance across science degree rankings. Bear in mind, however, that it is regarded as one of the more difficult degrees since the university emphasises self-directed learning, which may be challenging if you study several unrelated subjects.

Entry requirements: may vary between colleges, but typically require A*A*A in science/mathematics subjects, i.e. biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and further mathematics; Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA); Year 1 subjects have specific requirements, e.g. materials science requires A Level maths and chemistry/physics.

2 - University College London (UCL)

The biological sciences department at UCL has an impressive record of Nobel prize winners, most recently awarded to Prof John O’Keefe in 2014. Its BSc in biological sciences is highly regarded in the science community. You may transfer to the four-year MSci before the end of second year. 

You will be able to take optional modules in addition to core subjects from the first to the final year, allowing you to tailor your learning. Field trips are optional and have included trips to Norfolk, the Lake District and the south of Spain.

Entry requirements: AAA, including biology and chemistry/life and health sciences/mathematics/physics. GCSEs at grade B or 6 in English language or mathematics .

3 - University of Oxford

The University of Oxford introduced a new biology course in 2019 to replace its three-year BA in biological sciences. At Oxford, you will be taught by world-class scientists and hence get to experience cutting-edge research and discoveries. Current and past staff in the biology department include famous names such as Richard Dawkins and John Krebs.

All modules in year 1 are compulsory, including a field trip to study ecology. Optional modules are available in years 2 and 3. You may complete further fieldwork, including for your research project, across years, but this isn’t compulsory. You can graduate after year 3 or complete an advanced research project during an additional year and obtain an MBiol. 

Entry requirements: A*AA in biology/chemistry/physics/mathematics, with A* in science or mathematics.

4 - Imperial College London

Imperial College London’s life science department is world-renowned for its state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, and world-leading experts. Its biological sciences course is complemented by a life sciences skills programme that provides high-quality training in programming, statistics , quantitative skills, and scientific writing and presentation.

Year 1 introduces core topics, with years 2 and 3 allowing optional modules and fieldwork. Moreover, one of your modules may include a brand-new subject area as part of the university’s “I-Explore” programme. You may add on a fourth year either abroad or in industry.

The university also offers separate biological sciences degrees with an extra language or management modules, which may be of interest.

Entry Requirements: AAA, including biology and chemistry/mathematics/physics.

5 - Durham University

Durham offers great flexibility and several appealing opportunities. You may pursue a three-year BSc, add a placement year or year abroad, or undertake a four-year MBiol course with heavy research focus. Residential field courses have included locations such as South Africa, the Arctic and the Alps to assess climate change . 

The first year covers core modules, including genetics and physiology . Year 2 teaches core research skills and offers a wide variety of modules to choose from. In year 3, you will carry out either a literature review or a research project in addition to optional courses, e.g. ageing, crops for the future and conservation biology.

Entry requirements: AAA, including biology/chemistry/human biology with other science subject.

Biomedical sciences

Although more specialised than biological sciences, biomedical sciences is still extremely diverse as it encapsulates all scientific disciplines that can be applied to human health. It primarily involves laboratory research to study biological processes to enhance our understanding of health and disease, ultimately contributing to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic methods.

1 - University of Oxford

Biomedical research at Oxford is world-renowned and the course is taught by leading scientists in the field. In your first year, the topics are set and ensure a good mix of various aspects of human biology along with numerical and scientific skills. Over the next two years, you can select more and more specialised topics in areas such as pharmacology , neurophysiology or genetics.

As the course progresses, the focus will gear more towards scientific research, with an optional fourth year offering the opportunity to complete an advanced research project, awarding you with a Master’s degree. If you graduate after year 3 with a BA, you may obtain a degree in either neuroscience or cell and systems biology based on your specialisation.

Entry requirements: A*AA, of which two must be in biology/chemistry/physics/mathematics; Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT).

2 - University of Bath

Bath offers a BSc (three years) and an MBiomed (four years) in biomedical sciences, both offering an additional year with professional placement. Both share the same curriculum, but the MBiomed provides more in-depth training in research. You can only select optional modules in your second and penultimate year. Bath is particularly world-renowned for its research centres in evolution and mathematical biology.

Entry requirements: AAA or A*AB, including A in biology and chemistry.

3 - Lancaster University

Lancaster distinguishes between biomedical sciences and biomedicine. The former is offered as a course accredited by the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (IBMS), allowing you to work in the NHS, while the latter offers flexibility to tailor subjects according to your aspirations, and hence is more suitable for a career in academia or industry.

Although there is great overlap, BSc biomedical sciences only introduces optional modules in your final year as the course must meet NHS standards outlined by the IBMS. Biomedicine, on the other hand, allows you to start taking optional modules in year 2. You can also transfer to the MSci biomedicine programme or complete an extra year with a placement or abroad.

Entry requirements for both : AAB with A in biology and chemistry/mathematics/ physics.

4 - University of St Andrews

St Andrews only offers biomedical sciences as a research-only postgraduate degree: MSc(Res) in biology (biomedical sciences). This is a 12-month Master’s in which you will complete a supervised research project. 

The university’s biomedical sciences research department offers cutting-edge technologies and world-renowned staff to advise you on your research. This is ideal if you already have a degree but wish to transition.

Entry requirements: undergraduate honours degree at 2:1 or above in a relevant discipline, e.g. biochemistry , molecular biology or microbiology .

Its BSc in biomedical sciences produces some of the most employable life sciences graduates. You can further enhance your prospects in academic research by transferring to the MSci programme.

All modules are compulsory in year 1, but they provide exposure to a wide variety of disciplines. In year 2, you can specialise in specific streams, such as pharmacology or organs and systems. Year 3 includes a research project, plus highly specialised optional courses such as space medicine.

Entry requirements: AAA in biology and chemistry, and preferably mathematics; GCSEs at grade B or 6 in English language and mathematics.

Chemical scientists often drive scientific innovation in various fields, such as medicine, technology, engineering and even space travel. Although chemistry is a rather niche field, it is a wide-reaching branch of science. 

You may work at the forefront of science, advancing the field of chemistry as a whole, or you could help an organisation discover and develop new methods and compounds for specific products, such as cosmetics or medicines.

As mentioned above, you can only take chemistry as part of the broader natural sciences course at an undergraduate level. In your third year, you can specialise in chemistry and conduct a research project in your fourth year to graduate with an MSci in chemistry. 

This degree gives you a solid foundation in other scientific subjects in your first two years compared with most other single-discipline degrees in chemistry. Indeed, the chemistry department at Cambridge has driven many historic discoveries in the field.

Entry requirements for chemistry in year 1: A level chemistry; later years will require you to have done A level mathematics to continue studying chemistry.

2 - University of Oxford

Oxford has one of the top chemistry departments in the world, providing you with the opportunity to experience the latest research and technologies. Its research has often been successfully commercialised for real-world applications.

The chemistry course at Oxford is unique as it incorporates a compulsory fourth year exclusively dedicated to research. Also, the course isn’t taught on a modular basis, but rather as a whole to allow interlinking of concepts across disciplines. After covering core topics such as theoretical, biological , molecular and synthetic chemistry over three years, the latter part of year three offers a range of courses to choose from.

Your final year will equip you with highly desirable research skills valued by academics and employers. You may spend this year at university labs, in industry or abroad.

Entry requirements : A*A*A, including chemistry and mathematics, with both A* in science subjects and/or mathematics.

3 - Imperial College London

Imperial offers several chemistry courses other than its three-year BSc in chemistry, such as chemistry with management or chemistry with medicinal chemistry (MSci). The initial curriculum, nonetheless, is largely the same. For the standard BSc course, you select optional modules from the first year. 

In year 3, you can take an unrelated subject as part of I-Explore. A four-year MSci in chemistry is also possible. All chemistry courses are accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and award you with the Associateship of the RSC (ARSC).

Entry requirements: AAA, including chemistry, mathematics and preferably in biology, economics, further mathematics or physics.

St Andrews offers three courses as both BSc (four years) and MChem (five years): chemistry, chemistry with medicinal chemistry and materials chemistry . You may complete a chemistry BSc or MChem together with another subject as part of a joint degree. All courses are RSC-accredited and share the same curriculum initially. For your optional modules, you can take chemistry courses or other, unrelated subjects.

Entry requirements: ABB, including chemistry; For SQA Highers, AABB including A in chemistry and in biology/computer science/economics/ geography /mathematics/

Chemistry is taught on multiple programmes, which may include a year abroad, a year in industry, a year in research or a standard three-year BSc. All of them share the same core curriculum in years 1 and 2 and allow you to switch to another programme before the end of the second year. The course offers optional modules from year 1 to tailor your learning. Your third year will involve a research project.

Entry requirements: A*AA, including chemistry and mathematics.

Computer science

The world runs on computers and technology . Virtually every industry you can think of, be it healthcare , finance, science, construction, entertainment (and tech obviously), relies on computer science. 

A degree in computer science is confirmation you have acquired excellent problem-solving skills and technical knowledge, and hence puts you at a great advantage for job applications, especially if you pursue a postgraduate degree in advanced technologies.

Cambridge was one of the institutions that paved the way for computer science in the 20th century. It was Alan Turing, a Cambridge graduate in mathematics, whose pioneering work is often attributed as forming the foundation of modern computing. Continuing this legacy today, the university is driving innovation in various fields of computer science, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

The undergraduate computer science course at Cambridge is broad and teaches a set of mandatory topics over the first two years, including various programming languages. In year 3, you can select topics matching your interests. If you wish to pursue academia or industrial research, you may complete a fourth year and graduate with an MEng in computer science.

Entry requirements: vary between colleges, but usually A level mathematics; typical offers are A*A*A; Test of Mathematics for University Admission (TMUA); Computer Science Admissions Test (CSAT) for some colleges.

Oxford also houses world-leading computer scientists who will deliver much of your teaching. The course strongly encourages self-directed learning, but also has regular tutorials and labs in place to support your understanding. You will apply for a four-year course by default, but you can graduate after year 3 with a BA rather than a MCompSci.

The first year and 50 per cent of your second year will teach you compulsory core concepts, with the remainder of the course offering a selection of subjects. In your third year, you can carry out an optional project. The fourth year involves a research project along with specialised courses such as quantum software and computational biology .

Interestingly, Oxford offers another course, titled “computer science with philosophy”, if you are interested in the ethical and social implications of concepts such as AI.

Entry requirements: A*AA with at least an A in mathematics and A* in mathematics, further mathematics or computer science; Mathematics Admissions Test (MAT).

Other than its three-year BEng in computing or BEng mathematics and computing, there are several specialised computer science courses to choose from, including AI and machine learning, security and reliability, and management and finance. Imperial’s reputation in the tech and engineering sector is well-established, with all courses taught by pioneers in their field.

The three-year BEng doesn’t allow optional modules in year 1, but introduces them over year 2 and 3. You may complete an MSci year abroad or in industry.

Entry requirements: A*A*A or A*AA, including A* in mathematics; other recommended subjects are computer science, physics and further mathematics; online admissions test.

4 - Durham University

The course follows a similar structure to those at most universities by focusing on core modules initially and then providing more flexibility in later modules. You can add an additional year abroad or in industry to your three-year BSc to graduate with an MEng. 

The unique software engineering module in year 2 allows students to work with an external organisation to gain industrial software development experience and boost your CV.

Entry requirements: A*AA, including mathematics.

UCL’s approach to teaching computer science involves a heavy focus on solving real-world issues through problem-based learning. The course is taught by leading computer scientists. The university’s Integrated Engineering Programme (IEP) framework includes interdisciplinary projects designed to create well-rounded graduates.

The course only offers optional modules in year 3 after covering core concepts over the first two years. You can transfer to the four-year MEng in computer science before the end of second year.

Entry requirements: A*A*A, including A* in mathematics; GCSEs at grade C or 5 in English language and mathematics.

Geography & environmental science

Degrees in geography and environmental science cover everything from the demographics of different populations around the world to environmental systems and processes on Earth. The knowledge and analytical skills you gain from these subject are relevant to many modern issues, such as sustainability, biodiversity, global warming, globalisation and pandemics, hence making graduates highly desirable.

The undergraduate course in geography at Cambridge allows you to study both physical and human geography through all three years. You can specialise from your second year if you wish, however. Topics covered in year 1 are incredibly varied and may include geopolitics, historical geography, tectonics and volcanism, and biogeography. 

From year 2 onwards, you can pick more specialised subjects, such as inequality or glacial processes. The university offers one-day excursions each year. By the end of your course, you will be highly skilled in tackling complex global issues, data management and statistical computing, as well as verbal and written communication.

Entry requirements: non set by colleges, but typical offers require at least A*AA, with some specifically requiring A* in A level geography.

Geography at Oxford is incredibly diverse and offers great fieldwork and international opportunities. The university has state-of-the-art field equipment and some of the best geographical facilities in the country. The course is taught by some of the leading experts in the world.

The first year introduces you to physical and human geography and includes three field trips. Years 2 and 3 offer a wide selection of specialised courses for you to choose from. Your second year includes a week-long residential field course to the Netherlands and Tenerife.

Entry requirements: A*AA; A level geography is recommended but not essential; Geography Admissions Test (GAT).

3 - London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

LSE offers BA geography as well as a BSc in either economic history and geography or geography with economics, all of which are three years. The standard geography programme provides students with the opportunity to add a language to their degree certificate. As with most other geography courses, LSE allows flexibility in choosing some optional modules in addition to core subjects.

Entry requirements: AAA; GCSEs including the majority at grade A or 7 and A* or 8-9, with English language and mathematics at grade B or 6.

4 – University of St Andrews

Geography is offered as either a BSc or MA. Both are four years and accredited by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS). If you wish to study science subjects as part of your degree, you should opt for the BSc. If, on the other hand, you are more interested in arts subjects, the MA may be suitable.

You must pick two subjects in addition to the core modules in year 1 and you carry on at least one of these in year 2. In your third year, you may wish to specialise, although you can keep things more general, before undertaking a research project in year 4.

Entry requirements: AAA with no subject requirements; AAAB for SQL Highers.

Durham offers two separate geography degrees: a BA with a greater focus on human geography and a BSc focusing on physical geography. Although their year 1 curriculums are identical, the core and optional modules start varying from year 2 onwards. Both programmes offer a fourth year either abroad or on placement to which you transfer before the end of the second year.

Entry requirements: AAA or A*AB, including geography or a science subject for the BSc programme; A*AA with no particular subject requirement for the BA.

Physics and astronomy

If it were not for great physicists and astronomers in the past, technology and the field of engineering wouldn’t exist. Physics explains everything from the subatomic realm to the supermassive black holes at the centre of galaxies. As such, physics students are excellent at abstract reasoning, critical thinking and maths, making them employable not only in academia, but also in various industries, such as engineering and space science. 

As with biological sciences, you complete a degree in natural sciences, but opt for the purely physical route. This usually involves you taking three experimental sciences and mathematics (physics-oriented) in year 1, and mostly physics and mathematics in years 2 and 3. You may graduate at this point with a BA, but most students stay for a fourth year to graduate with an MSci in either astrophysics or physics.

Yet again, the physics department at the University of Cambridge is second to none in the country, with impressive names such as Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking among its alumni. Furthermore, the natural sciences degree allows you to learn about other scientific disciplines that wouldn’t be possible with a standalone physics degree.

Entry requirements for physics modules in year 1: any combination of A level mathematics and physics; mathematics and further mathematics; or mathematics and chemistry/physics.

Oxford houses one of the largest physics departments in the country, divided into six sub-departments, including astrophysics, particle physics and theoretical physics. The course is four years by default, awarding you with an MPhys, but offers graduation after year 3 with a BA.

Years 1 to 3 cover a set of core courses and offer a selection of more specialised subjects as you progress, such as biological physics, quantum mechanics and plasma physics . Year 4 comprises a research project and two major optional courses such as astrophysics, laser science and quantum information processing, and condensed matter . 

You could also transfer to a fourth year purely focused on mathematical and theoretical physics and graduate with an MMathPhys. As with computer science, Oxford offers a separate physics course with a philosophy component.

Entry requirements: A*AA, including mathematics and physics, with the A* in mathematics/physics/further mathematics; Physics Admissions Test (PAT).

3 - Durham University

Durham offers four physics courses: a three-year BSc in physics, and four-year MPhys in physics, physics and astronomy, and theoretical physics, all of which share the same core curriculum in year 1. These are accredited by the Institute of Physics and award you with Chartered Physicist status.

Optional modules are available all the way from years 1 to 3 in addition to your core subjects. You have until the end of the second year to decide whether to transfer to four-year programmes with a year abroad or on placement.

Entry requirements: A*A*A, including physics and mathematics.

4 - University of Birmingham

Birmingham offers BSc and MSci degrees in physics and a wide range of specialisms, such as astrophysics, data science and medical physics. The university allows a high level of flexibility in its module choices as well as transfers between specialised courses until the end of second year. Optional modules are available from year 1 to the final year.

Entry requirements : A*AA, including mathematics and physics.

5 - University of Manchester

Manchester offers a range of BSc and MPhys courses, with several specialisms, including an MPhys in physics with study in Europe. Its physics department is associated with at least 13 Nobel prize winners and boasts a high employability rate.

This university also allows great flexibility by allowing optional modules throughout, as well as allowing transfers across courses.

Entry requirements: A*A*A with A* in physics and mathematics.

There is no doubt about the UK’s strong track record of contributing to the scientific community over the past centuries. Some of the world’s oldest institutions, such as Oxford and Cambridge, remain among the best in the country and the world for science.

Whichever scientific discipline you choose based on your interests and aspirations, studying at one of the top 5 universities will certainly give you a great advantage. Your job prospects are endless, not only in academia, but also other sectors thanks to the scientific and analytical mind, and excellent technical and problem-solving skills, you will have developed. 

• A-Z of courses | University of Oxford . (n.d.). https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing
• Biosciences courses . (2023, November 20). https://www.bath.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate-2024/biosciences/
• Courses for 2024 entry | Undergraduate Study . (n.d.). https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses
• Durham University. (n.d.). Funnelback . https://search.durham.ac.uk/s/search.html?collection=durham-search&f.Tabbed+Facet%7Cdurham-courses=Courses&query=%21showall
• Faculty of Science - Subjects - University of St Andrews . (n.d.). Copyright ©  University of St Andrews. https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/subjects/study-options/faculties/science/
• London School of Economics and Political Science. (n.d.). Search programmes and courses . https://www.lse.ac.uk/programmes/search-courses?studyType=0%2F1%2F26%2F85%2F86
• Search undergraduate courses - University of Birmingham . (n.d.). University of Birmingham. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course-search?preventScrollTop=true
• Subjects . (n.d.). Imperial College London. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/subjects/
• UCAS. (2023, February 8). 2023 cycle applicant figures – 25 January deadline . https://www.ucas.com/data-and-analysis/undergraduate-statistics-and-reports/ucas-undergraduate-releases/ucas-undergraduate-applicant-releases-2023-cycle/2023-cycle-applicant-figures-25-january-deadline
• UCL – University College London . (n.d.). Prospective Students Undergraduate. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate/degrees
• Undergraduate Courses - Lancaster University . (n.d.). Lancaster University. https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/
• Undergraduate courses for entry in 2024 | The University of Manchester . (n.d.). The University of Manchester. https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/2024/
• World University Rankings 2024 . (2023, September 29). Times Higher Education (THE). https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2024/world-ranking?page=3#

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How bracketologists are using artificial intelligence this March Madness

FILE - Lisa Moeller takes a photo of the NCAA bracket for the NCAA college basketball tournament on the side of the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis, March 17, 2021. College hoops fans might want to think again before pinning their hopes of a perfect March Madness bracket on artificial intelligence. While the advancement of artificial intelligence into everyday life has made “AI” one of the buzziest phrases of the past year, its application in bracketology circles is not so new. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

FILE - Staff members for the NCAA place the names of the teams in the Sweet 16 on a bracket in the media workroom before practices at the East Regional of the NCAA college basketball tournament in New York, March 23, 2017. College hoops fans might want to think again before pinning their hopes of a perfect March Madness bracket on artificial intelligence. While the advancement of artificial intelligence into everyday life has made “AI” one of the buzziest phrases of the past year, its application in bracketology circles is not so new. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)

FILE - Pittsburgh guard Ishmael Leggett, right, places a decal on the bracket after an NCAA college basketball game against Wake Forest in the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament March 14, 2024, in Washington. College hoops fans might want to think again before pinning their hopes of a perfect March Madness bracket on artificial intelligence. While the advancement of artificial intelligence into everyday life has made “AI” one of the buzziest phrases of the past year, its application in bracketology circles is not so new. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

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College hoops fans might want to think again before pinning their hopes of a perfect March Madness bracket on artificial intelligence.

While the advancement of artificial intelligence into everyday life has made “AI” one of the buzziest phrases of the past year, its application in bracketology circles is not so new. Even so, the annual bracket contests still provide plenty of surprises for computer science aficionados who’ve spent years honing their models with past NCAA Tournament results.

They have found that machine learning alone cannot quite solve the limited data and incalculable human elements of “The Big Dance.”

“All these things are art and science. And they’re just as much human psychology as they are statistics,” said Chris Ford, a data analyst who lives in Germany. “You have to actually understand people. And that’s what’s so tricky about it.”

March Madness 2024

LIVE UPDATES: AP has you covered with the latest from the NCAA Tournament.

BRACKETS: See the brackets for the men’s and women’s tournaments.

QUIZ: How does your knowledge about the tournament stacks up .

GET MORE with AP’s latest March Madness coverage.

Casual fans may spend a few days this week strategically deciding whether to maybe lean on the team with the best mojo — like Sister Jean’s 2018 Loyola-Chicago squad that made the Final Four — or to perhaps ride the hottest-shooting player — like Steph Curry and his breakout 2008 performance that led Davidson to the Sweet Sixteen.

The technologically inclined are chasing goals even more complicated than selecting the winners of all 67 matchups in both the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments. They are fine-tuning mathematical functions in pursuit of the most objective model for predicting success in the upset-riddled tournament. Some are enlisting AI to perfect their codes or to decide which aspects of team resumes they should weigh most heavily.

The odds of crafting a perfect bracket are stacked against any competitor, however advanced their tools may be. An “informed fan” making certain assumptions based on previous results — such as a 1-seed beating a 16-seed — has a 1 in 2 billion chance at perfection, according to Ezra Miller, a mathematics and statistical science professor at Duke.

“Roughly speaking, it would be like choosing a random person in the Western Hemisphere,” he said.

Artificial intelligence is likely very good at determining the probability that a team wins, Miller said. But even with the models, he added that the “random choice of who’s going to win a game that’s evenly matched” is still a random choice.

For the 10th straight year, the data science community Kaggle is hosting “Machine Learning Madness.” Traditional bracket competitions are all-or-nothing; participants write one team’s name into each open slot. But “Machine Learning Madness” requires users to submit a percentage reflecting their confidence that a team will advance.

Kaggle provides a large data set from past results for people to develop their algorithms. That includes box scores with information on a team’s free-throw percentage, turnovers and assists. Users can then turn that information over to an algorithm to figure out which statistics are most predictive of tournament success.

“It’s a fair fight. There’s people who know a lot about basketball and can use what they know,” said Jeff Sonas, a statistical chess analyst who helped found the competition. “It is also possible for someone who doesn’t know a lot about basketball but is good at learning how to use data to make predictions.”

Ford, the Purdue fan who watched last year as the shortest Division I men’s team stunned his Boilermakers in the first round, takes it a different direction. Since 2020, Ford has tried to predict which schools will make the 68-team field.

In 2021, his most successful year, Ford said the model correctly named 66 of the teams in the men’s bracket. He uses a “fake committee” of eight different machine learning models that makes slightly different considerations based on the same inputs: the strength of schedule for a team and the number of quality wins against tougher opponents, to name a few.

Eugene Tulyagijja, a sports analytics major at Syracuse University, said he spent a year’s worth of free time crafting his own model. He said he used a deep neural network to find patterns of success based on statistics like a team’s 3-point efficiency.

His model wrongly predicted that the 2023 men’s Final Four would include Arizona, Duke and Texas. But it did correctly include UConn. As he adjusts the model with another year’s worth of information, he acknowledged certain human elements that no computer could ever consider.

“Did the players get enough sleep last night? Is that going to affect the player’s performance?” he said. “Personal things going on — we can never adjust to it using data alone.”

No method will integrate every relevant factor at play on the court. The necessary balance between modeling and intuition is “the art of sports analytics,” said Tim Chartier, a Davidson bracketology expert.

Pittsburgh guard Ishmael Leggett, right, places a decal on the bracket after an NCAA college basketball game against Wake Forest in the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament March 14, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Chartier has studied brackets since 2009, developing a method that largely relies on home/away records, performance in the second half of the season and the strength of schedule. But he said the NCAA Tournament’s historical results provide an unpredictable and small sample size — a challenge for machine learning models, which rely on large sample sizes.

Chartier’s goal is never for his students to reach perfection in their brackets; his own model still cannot account for Davidson’s 2008 Cinderella story.

In that mystery, Chartier finds a useful reminder from March Madness: “The beauty of sports, and the beauty of life itself, is the randomness that we can’t predict.”

“We can’t even predict 63 games of a basketball tournament where we had 5,000 games that led up to it,” he tells his classes. “So be forgiving to yourself when you don’t make correct predictions on stages of life that are much more complicated than a 40-minute basketball game.”

Pollard is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

US Supreme Court Abortion Pill Fight Brings Claims of Distorted Science

FILE PHOTO: Anti-abortion activists hold signs calling for the Supreme Court justices to "affirm the decision of Federal District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk who suspended the Food and Drug Administration's approval of Mifepristone," in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., April 21, 2023. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo

By Andrew Chung

(Reuters) - The abortion opponents who are seeking to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to limit access to the abortion pill mifepristone point to three studies by Gynuity Health Projects, a New York-based women's health research group, to back up their arguments that it is unsafe despite its regulatory approval decades ago.

But the way the research has been prominently cited by the plaintiffs in their bid to limit how the pill is prescribed and distributed is bewildering to Dr. Beverly Winikoff, Gynuity's president, given that the conclusions broadly support easier access to the medication.

"They live on a different planet," Winikoff said of the plaintiffs during an interview at her Midtown Manhattan office. "You can always distort information and say things that aren't true."

The Supreme Court, whose conservative majority in 2022 overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had recognized a constitutional right to abortion, is set to hear arguments in the case on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden's administration is appealing a lower court's decision that would roll back U.S. Food and Drug Administration actions in 2016 and 2021 to ease access to mifepristone. A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs could undercut federal regulatory authority over drug safety beyond just this medication.

The plaintiffs defend how they presented the research findings.

"We simply took the FDA's characterizations of these studies and presented them to the court," said Erik Baptist, a lawyer at the Alliance Defending Freedom conservative religious rights group representing the plaintiffs.

Mifepristone is taken with another drug called misoprostol to perform medication abortions, which account for more than 60% of U.S. abortions.

ABORTION CRACKDOWN

A series of Republican-backed abortion bans of varying strictness have been enacted by states since the 2022 Supreme Court ruling. Some states also impose their own restrictions on medication abortion.

The plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case are a group of medical associations and four doctors who oppose abortion on religious and moral grounds. To them, the FDA's decisions to relax mifepristone restrictions unlawfully placed women at risk.

The regulatory changes included allowing for medication abortions at up to 10 weeks of pregnancy instead of seven, and for mail delivery of the drug without a woman first seeing a clinician in-person.

The FDA gave mifepristone regulatory approval in 2000. It has said that after decades of use by millions of women in the United States and around the world, mifepristone has proven "extremely safe," and that "study after study" has shown that "serious adverse events are exceedingly rare."

The plaintiffs question the FDA's judgment, in part by pointing the Supreme Court in their written filings to the three studies published by Gynuity researchers in 2019 and 2021 as part of a project called TelAbortion, which evaluated the feasibility and safety of providing abortion drugs via videoconference and mail.

The FDA considered those studies, among others, in eliminating in-person visits.

The studies, the plaintiffs told the justices, show "troubling rates of emergency-room visits, urgent care trips, and unplanned medical encounters" and "increased risk" for patients.

But the studies report that "serious adverse events" such as hospitalizations or blood transfusions are rare. One of them specified that none of the 0.9% of serious outcomes would have been avoided with in-person screening.

Winikoff, who has studied medication abortion for more than three decades, said using emergency room or urgent care trips as a proxy for danger paints a false narrative, as most of these visits are not for serious medical emergencies, despite where they take place.

"You're counting apples and oranges," Winikoff said, adding: "This whole thing is misleading the public."

EMERGENCY ROOM VISITS

Dr. Daniel Grossman, director of the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health research group at the University of California San Francisco, said patients who use telemedicine to obtain medication abortion may live far from the prescribing clinician.

"So it's not surprising that if they have a question or concern they may go to an emergency department as many people in America do for much of their urgent healthcare," Grossman said.

Often that care is for "patients who just have a question or concern and they don't end up needing any treatment" as even more recent studies have found, Grossman said.

Baptist, representing the plaintiffs, pointed to the FDA's characterizations of the studies at issue.

"The FDA's own label considers emergency room visits to be 'serious adverse reactions,'" Baptist said.

"The studies that FDA cited in 2021 show that the risk of these emergency room trips will increase without the initial in-person visit. That should've caused the FDA concern. Instead, it pressed forward with its changes, compromising the health and safety of women," Baptist added.

The fight over the science behind mifepristone's safety escalated in recent weeks when prominent academic journal publisher Sage retracted three studies led by researchers at the Virginia-based anti-abortion Charlotte Lozier Institute, noting problems with methodology.

The plaintiffs, including the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, had cited two of the studies, including one reporting more emergency room visits following medication abortion compared to surgical abortion, in their 2022 lawsuit challenging FDA approval of mifepristone.

Texas-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk also cited the studies in his 2023 decision siding with the plaintiffs.

"We don't need those studies to win," Baptist said. "All we need to prevail is what the FDA itself has said and the studies it has cited."

James Studnicki, director of data analytics at the Charlotte Lozier Institute and lead author of the retracted studies, said, "There is no legitimate reason for Sage's retractions." The institute told the Supreme Court in a filing that the retractions were made for "ideological" reasons even as the FDA relied on studies by "pro-abortion" researchers.

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year partially upheld Kacsmaryk's decision, faulting the FDA's loosened restrictions on mifepristone in 2016 and 2021. The 5th Circuit's decision remains on hold pending the Supreme Court's review. A ruling is expected by the end of June.

For Winikoff, no matter the outcome at the Supreme Court, medication abortion is here to stay.

"People really know what they need, and now they found something that's helpful for them and it fits into their lives better," Winikoff said. "I don't think that the women of America are going to give this up because some people don't like abortion."

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)

Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters .

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