16 colleges ranked by the research strength of their Interdisciplinary Studies faculty — a 0–100 blend of bibliometric quality, top-decile stars, federal R&D funding, and academic notability. Research output, not teaching quality. Reference corpus: 363 faculty. Data as of 2026-07-02.
| # | College | Research Strength | Coverage | Median h | FY24 R&D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ivy+ · #2 84 matched faculty; median h-index 47; led by Daron Acemoglu (h-index 162). | 79 | A | 47.5 | — |
| 2 | University of California, Berkeley Public Ivy · #10 31 matched faculty; median h-index 46; led by Richard Ivry (h-index 97). | 69 | A | 46 | — |
| 3 | Yale University Ivy League · #5 39 matched faculty; median h-index 35; led by John Bargh (h-index 102). | 66 | A | 35 | — |
| 4 | Carnegie Mellon University Elite Private · #24 30 matched faculty; median h-index 26; led by Tom Zimmermann (h-index 73). | 54 | A | 26.5 | — |
| 5 | University of Arizona Regional · #129 14 matched faculty; median h-index 28. | 44 | C | 28 | — |
| 6 | University of California, San Diego Public Ivy · #29 29 matched faculty; median h-index 31; led by Bradley Voytek (h-index 45). | 44 | A | 31 | — |
| 7 | Tufts University Elite Private · #40 17 matched faculty; median h-index 20; led by Gina Kuperberg (h-index 96). | 41 | A | 20 | — |
| 8 | Dartmouth College Ivy League · #10 9 matched faculty; median h-index 24; led by Elizabeth J. Wilson (h-index 51). | 30 | B | 24 | — |
| 9 | Bard College Top LAC · #88 37 matched faculty; median h-index 11; led by Felicia Keesing (h-index 77). | 30 | A | 11 | — |
| 10 | Harvey Mudd College Top LAC · #10 9 matched faculty; median h-index 5; led by Anup Gampa (h-index 8). | 28 | C | 5 | — |
| 11 | Claremont McKenna College Elite Private · #33 9 matched faculty; median h-index 9; led by Chiu-Yen Kao (h-index 28). | 20 | B | 9 | — |
| 12 | Pomona College Elite Private · #15 12 matched faculty; median h-index 8; led by Deborah M. Burke (h-index 37). | 18 | A | 8.5 | — |
| 13 | Pepperdine University Selective Private · #80 10 matched faculty; median h-index 7; led by David Strong (h-index 34). | 17 | B | 7 | — |
| 14 | University of Richmond Elite Private · #22 6 matched faculty; median h-index 8; led by Yucel Yanikdag (h-index 4). | 17 | B | 8 | — |
| 15 | Bryn Mawr College Top LAC · #33 5 matched faculty; median h-index 7. | 17 | C | 7 | — |
| 16 | Reed College Top LAC · #47 9 matched faculty; median h-index 6; led by Alexander Moll (h-index 17). | 14 | B | 6 | — |
Research Strength (0–100) blends four components, re-normalized over whichever are available for each college: Quality 45%, Stars 25%, Funding 20%, Notability 10%. Each college's faculty in Interdisciplinary Studies are matched to OpenAlex research records; scores use field-relative percentiles across these 192 colleges, not all US institutions. A college needs at least four matched faculty to be ranked.
Research Strength Rankings v1.0 · as of 2026-07-02.