Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 2 school in the national universities category by the 2011 U.S. News & World Report college rankings. As a designated space grant college, member of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, and Carnegie Research University with high research activity (RU/H), Louisiana Tech conducts research with ongoing projects funded by agencies such as NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense. The university is known for its engineering programs. Louisiana Tech University opened as The Industrial Institute and College of Louisiana in 1894 during the Second Industrial Revolution. The original mission of the college was for the education of white students in the arts and sciences for the purpose of developing an industrial economy in post-Reconstruction Louisiana. Four years later, the state constitution changed the school's name to the Louisiana Industrial Institute.