overall among all national universities, public and private. In 2023, U.S. News & World Report ranked the undergraduate nursing, business, and engineering programs 93rd, 164th, and 165th nationally, respectively. The university was named one of the "Best Southeastern Colleges" in the United States by the Princeton Review for 2023. In 2022, Florida Atlantic was ranked 72nd in the nation by Washington Monthly in their 2022 National University Rankings. Research FAU is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a research university with high research activity. The university has established notable partnerships with major research institutions such as the Scripps Research Institute, the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, and the Max Planck Society. The university is the home of two centers of excellence: the Center of Excellence in Biomedical and Marine Biotechnology and the Center for Ocean Energy Technology. These centers have been selected by Florida's Emerging Technology Commission to receive grants to continue and increase their operations. FAU beat out some of Florida's top research universities, including the University of Florida and Florida State University, for the initial funding from the state. Since receiving its startup funding, Florida Atlantic has secured additional funds from other sources, including federal and private research grants. As a result, both centers have engaged in academic and industry partnerships, combining expertise in ocean engineering, marine biotechnology, functional genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics. Researchers, scientists, and students at the centers are designing technologies to explore the sea, harvest renewable energy, discover new medicines, and develop new therapeutics to combat agents of bioterrorism. As a result of this research, in 2007 the university and Lockheed Martin announced an exclusive licensing agreement to develop and produce a rapidly deployable and autonomous mooring buoy system for military and scientific uses. In 2010, the United States Department of Energy designated FAU as one of three national centers for ocean energy research and development. The Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center joins centers in the Pacific Northwest (University of Washington and Oregon State University) and in Hawaii (University of Hawaii). The Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center is undertaking research and development of technologies capable of generating renewable power from ocean currents and ocean thermal energy. The university houses both an Imaging Technology Center and a NASA Imaging Technology Space Center. Located in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the centers specialize in digital imaging research