California Polytechnic State University

Overview

California Polytechnic State University

California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) is a public university in San Luis Obispo, California. It was founded in 1901 as the California Polytechnic School, became the California State Polytechnic College in 1947, and received university status and its present name in 1971. One of two polytechnics in the California State University system, Cal Poly is one of the leading American institutions of higher education in engineering and technology.

California Polytechnic State University Key Statistics

Cal Poly comprises six colleges offering 50 bachelor's, over 50 master's, and doctoral degree programs. Some of its notable academic units are the College of Science and Mathematics, College of Engineering, and College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.

California Polytechnic State University's student population is approximately 22,287, with 21,447 undergraduates and 840 postgraduates and doctoral candidates. It employs 1,426 academic staff and 1,659 administrative staff in its 9,178-acre campus in San Luis Obispo, which is one of the largest college campuses in America.

Other California Polytechnic State University key statistics include its extensive academic, research, and support facilities. These include the 3,200-acre Swanton Pacific Ranch, on-campus student housing, a recreation center, sports facilities, and the Robert E. Kennedy Library.

California Polytechnic State University Research

Cal Poly is classified as a Master's College and University (larger programs), with an extensive research portfolio such as the simultaneous implementation of 400 research programs and a total expenditure of $25.9 million in sponsored project funds. Most of its research projects concentrate on the use of technology to improve the global food supply, develop safe and sustainable sources of energy, and combat deadly diseases. Funding primarily comes from external funding agencies such as the California Central Coast Research Project, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The top fields of California Polytechnic State University research are physics, computer science, and nuclear physics. Its research outputs have been published in prestigious journals like Physics Letters B, The Astrophysical Journal, and arXiv: Mathematical Software.

Its researchers have attended major scholarly conferences such as WebSci: Web Science, ELPUB: International Conference on Electronic Publishing, and SIGCSE: Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education.

The most cited California Polytechnic State University research publication is Davis et al.'s (1989) “User acceptance of computer technology: a comparison of two theoretical models.”
This analysis of two theoretical paradigms was published in Management Science and has received 31,654 citations.

Likewise, Cal Poly’s second most cited publication is Davis et al.'s (1992) “Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to use computers in the workplace,” which was featured in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology and has been cited 8,100 times to date.

Moreover, the university’s third most cited publication is Virtanen et al.'s (2020) “SciPy 1.0: fundamental algorithms for scientific computing in Python,” which appeared in Nature Methods and has received 6,131 citations.

In addition, the university is home to numerous research centers and institutes. These include the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Center for Coastal Marine Sciences, the California Center for Construction Education, Center for Applications in Biotechnology, and the California Cybersecurity Institute. Its Corporate Engagement and Innovation unit oversees Cal Poly’s Technology Park and its collaborative projects with industry partners.

You can also learn more about the educational performance of California Polytechnic State University in our ranking of US universities & colleges.