Rice ranks No. 4 for increase in media attention

Rice ranks No. 4 for increase in media attention

RICE NEWS AND STAFF REPORTS

Rice’s cutting-edge research and timely media relations were both on display in the days following Hurricane Ike.
 
Rice faculty published major papers in two of the world’s highest profile journals, Science and Nature. Vice Provost for Research James Coleman co-authored a study about ecological responses to global warming that is featured on the cover of this week’s Nature, and political scientist John Alford co-authored a paper in Science that examines the links between physiological traits and political attitudes.
 

Media coverage of both papers was widespread. The Nature study was covered by Agence France Presse, the BBC, Science News and the Christian Science Monitor, and Alford was interviewed by CNN, Newsweek, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Scientific American, the Washington Post and others.
 
Rice’s efforts to publicize its research nationally and internationally are paying off. A new ranking by Austin-based Internet monitoring firm Global Language Monitor (GLM) found Rice among the top five U.S. universities in terms of online media momentum.
 
GLM ranked U.S. universities and colleges based on the number of times their names appeared in global print and electronic media, in blogs and in other online forums. GLM used the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s classifications to distinguish between universities and liberal arts colleges, and it ranked institutions according to their positions in early September, a midyear snapshot and on the last day of 2007.
 
In terms of “media momentum” — the increase of media citations over the past year — Rice ranked No. 4, edging out the University of Texas at Austin. Vanderbilt University, the University of Virginia and Emory University led the list.