Arizona State University

Arizona State University (commonly referred to as ASU or Arizona State) is a public metropolitan research university located on five campuses across the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area,and four regional learning centers throughout Arizona. The 2016 university ratings by U.S. News & World Report rank ASU No. 1 among the Most Innovative Schools in America.

ASU is the largest public university by enrollment in the U.S. It has approximately 82,060 students enrolled in the year 2014 including 66,309 undergraduate and 15,751 graduate students.ASU's charter, approved by the board of regents in 2014, is based on the "New American University" model created by ASU President Crow. It defines ASU as "a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but rather by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves."

ASU is classified as a research university with very high research activity (RU/VH) by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Since 2005 ASU has been ranked among the top research universities, public and private, in the U.S. based on research output, innovation, development, research expenditures, number of awarded patents and awarded research grant proposals. The Center for Measuring University Performance currently ranks ASU 31st among top U.S. public research universities.ASU was classified as a Research I institute in 1994, making it one of the newest major research universities (public or private) in the nation.
In 1923 the school stopped offering high school courses and added a high school diploma to the admissions requirements. In 1925 the school became the Tempe State Teachers College and offered four-year Bachelor of Education degrees as well as two-year teaching certificates. In 1929, the legislature authorized Bachelor of Arts in Education degrees as well, and the school was renamed the Arizona State Teachers College. Under the 30-year tenure of president Arthur John Matthews the school was given all-college student status. The first dormitories built in the state were constructed under his supervision. Of the 18 buildings constructed while Matthews was president, six are still currently in use. Matthews envisioned an "evergreen campus," with many shrubs brought to the campus, and implemented the planting of Palm Walk, now a landmark of the Tempe campus. His legacy is being continued to this day with the main campus having been declared a nationally recognized arboretum.
Barrett, The Honors College is ranked among the top honors programs in the nation. Although there are no set minimum admissions criteria for Barrett College, the average GPA of Fall 2014 incoming freshmen was 3.80, with average SAT scores of 1300/1600 and ACT scores of 28.9.The Honors college enrolls 5,416 undergraduate students, with 409 National Merit Scholars.
The university's push to create various institutes has led to greater funding and an increase in the number of researchers in multiple fields. Among the most notable and famed institutes at ASU are: The Biodesign Institute, Institute of Human Origins, L. William Seidman Research Institute (W. P. Carey School of Business), the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Learning Sciences Institute, Herberger Research Institute, Hispanic Research Center, and the International Institute for Species Exploration. Much of the research conducted at ASU is considered cutting edge with its focus on interdisciplinarity.The Biodesign Institute for instance, conducts research on issues such as biomedical and healthcare outcomes as part of a collaboration with the Mayo Clinic to diagnose and treat rare diseases, including cancer. Biodesign Institute researchers have also developed various techniques for reading and detecting biosignatures which expanded in 2006 with an $18 million grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The institute also is heavily involved in sustainability research, primarily through reuse of CO2 via biological feedback and various biomasses (e.g. algae) to synthesize clean biofuels. Heliae is a Biodesign Institute spin-off and much of its business centers on Algal-derived, high value products. Furthermore, the institute is heavily involved in security research including technology that can detect biological and chemical changes in the air and water. The university has received more than $30.7 million in funding from the Department of Defense for adapting this technology for use in detecting the presence of biological and chemical weapons.