Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) has maintained its position as the top program of its kind as ranked by U.S. News & World Report in its annual Best Colleges rankings, released each fall. The most recent ranking marks the 25th consecutive year that the undergraduate program has held the No. 1 position.

“ISyE’s evolution began nearly a century ago as the then-named Georgia School of Technology strived to build an educated workforce of technical industrial leaders in the state of Georgia,” said Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. “Today we are a world-class university with national and international reach. That the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering continues to define excellence in those fields speaks loudly of the quality of our faculty, staff, and students.”

The history of ISyE began in 1924, when an “industrial option” was offered as part of the mechanical engineering curriculum. The Department of Industrial Engineering was created in 1945. In 1948, the Georgia School of Technology was renamed the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the department became the School of Industrial Engineering. “Systems” was added to the School name in 1969. Through the generosity of H. Milton Stewart Jr. (BIE 1961) and his family, the School was endowed as the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering in 2006.

ISyE’s undergraduate program initially earned its top position on USNWR’s individual undergraduate engineering disciplines listing in 1995.

“The rankings are based on input received from peers across the U.S. For ISyE to hold the No. 1 slot in the rankings for 25 years is by all means an amazing feat,” said Steve McLaughlin, dean of the College of Engineering and Southern Company Chair. “The top ranking shows the extraordinary regard in which our program is held and is a testament to the outstanding work being done in industrial engineering. That quality helps ensure that the industrial engineering program meets and exceeds the high standards that have been in place for more than two decades.”

The Stewart School is home to the largest industrial engineering program in the U.S., with more than 3,000 enrolled undergraduate and graduate students and nearly 100 faculty and staff. More than 17,000 ISyE alumni around the world work in fields including engineering, academia, consulting, financial services, healthcare, law, manufacturing, and transportation, among others.

“We are honored to once again be named the top undergraduate program in the industrial/manufacturing specialty,” said ISyE School Chair Edwin Romeijn. “This significant milestone reflects ISyE’s continued academic achievements and leadership by our faculty and students, as well as the dedication of our staff.”

The College of Engineering as a whole is once again tied for fourth with California Institute of Technology. Among public universities, it is ranked second behind the University of California, Berkeley.

All undergraduate engineering programs placed in the top four, with aerospace, civil, and materials engineering ranked No. 2 in their respective fields.