Rice's Baker Institute Among Top U.S. Think Tanks

Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy is ranked No. 21 – up from No. 24 in 2011 – among the top think tanks in the United States, according to the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program’s (TTCSP) 2012 survey at the University of Pennsylvania. The new rankings were published this week.

The Baker Institute is also one of only 10 U.S. university-affiliated think tanks ranked among the top 20 in the world; it rose to No. 13 in 2012 from No. 17 in 2011. The institute was also highly ranked No. 6 among energy and resource policy think tanks.

"Poised to celebrate its 20th year, Rice University’s Baker Institute has once again been ranked among the very top U.S. and global think tanks," said Baker Institute Founding Director Edward Djerejian. "With this gratifying news, we look forward to expanding our research programs and continuing to provide relevant analysis and recommendations to decision-makers in the public and private sectors on domestic and international policy issues."

Most recently, the Baker Institute expanded its energyprogram and created a new Center for Energy Studies (CES) in October. The new center provides policymakers, corporate leaders and the public with quality, data-driven analysis of issues that influence energy markets. CES provides a nonpartisan voice to issues that are often politically divisive.

The TTCSP produces the annual Global Go-To Think Tank Index that ranks the world’s leading think tanks with the help of a panel of more than 1,950 peer institutions and experts from the print and electronic media, academia, public and private donor institutions and policymakers.

According to James McGann, director of the TTCSP, 6,603 think tanks from 182 countries were invited to participate in the process, and a total of 1,647 think tanks were nominated.

To download a PDF of the TTCSP report, visit www.gotothinktank.com.