In a week that has seen a crazed branch campus professor, and fraternity posting pictures of nude, unconscious women, Penn State has finally received a bit of good press, being ranked by the National Science Foundation as a top research leader in numerous categories. The NSF study, which measured total research expenditures, put Penn State in the top ten universities in 13 fields, tied for second nationally in top-ten rankings with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, behind only Johns Hopkins University.

Overall, the ranking put Penn State 17th nationally in total research expenditures. However, the university was ranked first in materials research, second in psychology, and third in both mechanical engineering and sociology. The NSF also put Penn State in the top five in electrical engineering and total engineering, as well as in the top ten for aerospace engineering, computer science, agricultural sciences, civil engineering, atmospheric sciences, and earth sciences.

“This is testament not just to our overall strength, but to the extraordinary breadth and variety of Penn State’s research enterprise,” said Neil Sharkey, Vice President for Research. “Very few other institutions can demonstrate such a high level of achievement in fields as disparate as materials science and psychology.”

These rankings, which measured the 2013 fiscal year, have remained consistent over the years, as 11 of the fields have maintained their top ten ranking since 2008 or earlier.