American University

Overview

American University

American University (AU) is a private research university in Washington D.C. It was established in 1893 by an Act of Congress at the urge of Methodist bishop John Fletcher Hurst. Officially recognized by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, AU is among the oldest universities in the nation’s capital.

American University Key Statistics

AU’s educational structure is made up of multiple academic colleges and schools. These include the School of International Service, the College of Arts & Sciences, the School of Public Affairs, and the Washington College of Law. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs in education, business, law, and liberal arts.

It has a student population of more than 14,300, including over 8,500 undergraduates and nearly 5,800 postgraduates. The university also employs more than 1,700 full-time academic staff members across its three campuses. These are the Main campus on Massachusetts Avenue, the Tenley campus, and the East campus on Nebraska Avenue.

Other American University key statistics are its wide range of academic and administrative facilities that include the Abbey Joel Butler Pavilion, the Battelle-Tompkins Building, the Don Myers Technology and Innovation, the Hall of Science, the Katzen Arts Center, the Hurst Hall, and a comprehensive library system that maintains over one million volumes and can accommodate up to 10,000 students.

American University Research

AU is classified as an R2: Doctoral University for its high research activity. It is funded through grants and fellowships awarded by public and private organizations such as the Adel Ait-Ghezala Graduate Research Fellowship, the College of Arts and Sciences Mellon Fund, and the Office of the Provost.

The top three American University research fields are physics, psychology, and gravitational wave. Researchers from the university have also attended global research conferences and symposiums such as HICSS: Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences, SoCG: Symposium on Computational Geometry, and SODA: Symposium on Discrete Algorithms.

Its most cited research output is Newman's (2017) “Tracking the release of IPCC ARS on Twitter: Users, comments, and sources following the release of the Working Group I summary for policymakers,” which was published in Public Understanding of Science and has 15,601 citations to date. AU’s second most popular research work is DeLone and McLean's (1992) “Information systems success: The quest for the dependent variable,” which was published in Information Systems Research and has been cited 15,464 times so far.

Meanwhile, its third most popular research work is Abbott et al.’s (2016) “Observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger.” This article, which talks about the assessments of the gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger, was published in Physical Review Letters and has been cited 10,406 times by students and research professionals worldwide throughout its publication.

Other American University research facts and figures are its research centers and institutes. These include the Center for Neuroscience and Behavior, the Center for Latin American & Latino Studies, the Integrated Space Science and Technology Institute, and the Center on Health, Risk & Society.

Its other research centers and institutes include the Center for Language, Exploration, Acquisition & Research, the Nuclear Studies Institute, the Cybersecurity Governance Center, and the Center for Environmental Filmmaking.