UA back at No. 1 in the world for polymer science and plastics engineering

The University of Akron (UA) is once again ranked No. 1 in the world for polymer science and plastics engineering, according to EduRank.org.

UA was ranked No. 1 in 2022. Subsequent rankings placed UA third behind Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo, both of which are in Japan. UA was still ranked No. 1 in North America and the U.S. during that time.

Now back as the world leader, UA heads a global top 10 that includes Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan), Harvard University, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (Germany), University of Manchester (England) and Pennsylvania State University. A total of 1,015 polymer science and plastics engineering programs were ranked.

An international leader in polymers since the founding of the United Synthetic Rubber Program in 1939, the University’s School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering (SPSPE) is based in the College of Engineering and Polymer Science. SPSPE offers cutting edge master’s and doctoral programs. The faculty represent one of the largest concentrations of polymer expertise in the U.S., having invented more than 300 issued and pending patents, including some that have been commercialized worldwide.

"This ranking reaffirms the global reputation of our faculty and programs," said Dr. Craig Menzemer, dean of the College of Engineering and Polymer Science. "Our sustained leadership in polymer science is built on decades of innovation, excellence in research, and close ties with industry. I’m equally proud of the national recognition our chemical engineering program continues to earn — reflecting our commitment to advancing critical fields like energy, biomolecular, and advanced materials. We’re proud to be the destination for students and partners around the world who want to advance the field."

UA’s chemical engineering program was also highly ranked in the most recent EduRank ratings. The University is third overall in Ohio, second among the state’s public universities, and No. 49 in the nation.

Overall, UA is ranked No. 8 out of 90 Ohio public and private universities and No. 193 in the U.S. by EduRank. These rankings are based on research output (EduRank's index has 32,967 academic publications and 788,899 citations attributed to the University), non-academic reputation and the impact of 99 notable alumni. UA also scored in the top 50% across 177 research topics.

EduRank.org is an independent metric-based ranking of 14,131 universities from 183 countries. The website utilizes the world's largest scholarly papers database with 115,295,786 scientific publications and 2,964,008,315 citations to rank universities across 246 research topics. In the overall rankings EduRank adds non-academic prominence and alumni popularity indicators.

UA media contact: Cristine Boyd, cboyd@uakron.edu; 330-972-6476