Optimize the CSranking of ... AUEB Aalborg University Aalto University Aarhus University Aberystwyth University Air Force Institute of Technology American University of Beirut Ariel University Arizona State University Auburn University Australian National University BITS Pilani BUET Bar-Ilan University Bauhaus University Weimar Beihang University Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Bielefeld University Bilkent University Binghamton University Birkbeck University of London Bocconi University Boise State University Boston College Boston University Boğaziçi University Brandeis University Brandenburg University of Technology Brigham Young University Brno University of Technology Brown University Brunel University London Bundeswehr University Munich CISPA Helmholtz Center CMI CRIStAL CUNY CWI California Institute of Technology Cardiff University Carleton University Carnegie Mellon University Case Western Reserve University Chalmers/GU Charles University Chinese Academy of Sciences Chinese University of Hong Kong Chulalongkorn University City University of Hong Kong City University of London Claremont Graduate University Clemson University Cleveland State University College of William and Mary Colorado School of Mines Colorado State University Columbia University Concordia University Cornell University Cyprus University of Technology Czech Technical University DAIICT DTU Dalhousie University Dartmouth College De La Salle University DePaul University Drexel University Duke University Durham University EPFL ETH Zurich ETS Montreal EURECOM Ecole Normale Superieure Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon Ecole Normale Superieure de Rennes Emory University Federal University of Rio Grande Florida Atlantic University Florida Institute of Technology Florida International University Florida State University Freie Universitaet Berlin Friedrich Schiller University Jena Fudan University George Mason University George Washington University Georgetown University Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia State University Goethe University Frankfurt Goldsmiths University of London Graz University of Technology HKUST Hacettepe University Hamburg University of Technology Hanyang University Harbin Institute of Technology Harvard University Hasso Plattner Institute Hebrew University of Jerusalem Heidelberg University Heriot-Watt University Hong Kong Baptist University Humboldt University of Berlin Hunan University IIIT Bangalore IIIT Delhi IIIT Hyderabad IISc Bangalore IIT (BHU) Varanasi IIT Bombay IIT Delhi IIT Gandhinagar IIT Guwahati IIT Hyderabad IIT Indore IIT Jodhpur IIT Kanpur IIT Kharagpur IIT Madras IIT Mandi IIT Patna IIT Roorkee IIT Ropar IMDEA Networks Institute IMDEA Software Institute IMSc IPI PAN IPM IST Austria IT University of Copenhagen IUPUI IUST Illinois Institute of Technology Imperial College London Indiana State University Indiana University Iowa State University Istanbul Technical University Izmir Institute of Technology JKU Linz JUST Jacobs University Bremen Johns Hopkins University KAIST KAUST KMUTNB KTH Royal Institute of Technology KU Leuven Kansas State University Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Keio University Kent State University King's College London Korea University Koç University Kyoto University Kyungpook National University LMU Munich LUMS Lancaster University Lebanese American University Lehigh University Loughborough University Louisiana State University Lund University Maastricht University Macquarie University Masaryk University Masdar Institute Massachusetts Institute of Technology Massey University Max Planck Society McGill University McMaster University Memorial University of Newfoundland Michigan State University Michigan Technological University Middle East Technical University Middlesex University Mississippi State University Missouri University of Technology Monash University Montana State University NJIT NTNU NTUA NWPU NYU Shanghai Nanjing University Nanyang Technological University National Cheng Kung University National Chiao Tung University National Taiwan University National Tsing Hua University National University of Singapore Naval Postgraduate School New Mexico State University New Mexico Tech New York University North Carolina State University North Dakota State University Northeastern University Northern Arizona University Northwestern University Nova Southeastern University OHSU Oakland University Ohio State University Ohio University Oklahoma State University Old Dominion University Ontario Tech University Open University UK Oregon State University Osaka University POSTECH PUC-RIO PUC-RS Paderborn University Peking University Pennsylvania State University Politecnico di Milano Polytechnic University of Catalonia Polytechnique Montreal Portland State University Princeton University Purdue University Qatar Computing Research Institute Qatar University Queen Mary University of London Queen's University Belfast Queen’s University RMIT University RWTH Aachen Radboud University Renmin University of China Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rice University Rochester Institute of Technology Royal Holloway University of London Royal Military College of Canada Ruhr-University Bochum Rutgers University Ryerson University SUFE SUTD Saarland University Sabancı University Sapienza University of Rome Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna Seoul National University Shandong University Shanghai Jiao Tong University Sharif University of Technology Shenzhen University Simon Fraser University Simula UiB Singapore Management University Southern Methodist University Stanford University Stellenbosch University Stevens Institute of Technology Stony Brook University Sun Yat-sen University Syracuse University TTI Chicago TU Berlin TU Braunschweig TU Chemnitz TU Clausthal TU Darmstadt TU Delft TU Dortmund TU Dresden TU Eindhoven TU Freiberg TU Ilmenau TU Kaiserslautern TU Munich TU Wien Tata Inst. of Fundamental Research Technion Tel Aviv University Temple University Texas A&M University Texas A&M at Qatar Texas State University Texas Tech University The Hong Kong Polytechnic University The University of Alabama Tilburg University Tokyo Institute of Technology Tongji University Towson University Tsinghua University Tufts University Tulane University UCCS UESTC UFF UFMG UFMS UFPE UFRGS UFRJ UFU UNC - Charlotte UNICAMP UNIST UNSW USP USP-ICMC USTC Univ. of California - Berkeley Univ. of California - Davis Univ. of California - Irvine Univ. of California - Los Angeles Univ. of California - Merced Univ. of California - Riverside Univ. of California - San Diego Univ. of California - Santa Barbara Univ. of California - Santa Cruz Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Univ. of Maryland - Baltimore County Universidad Nacional de Córdoba Universidad Rey Juan Carlos Universidad de Chile Universidad de Zaragoza Universidad de los Andes Universidade Federal de Viçosa Universidade NOVA de Lisboa Universidade de Brasília Universidade de Lisboa University College London University at Albany - SUNY University at Buffalo University of A Coruña University of Aberdeen University of Adelaide University of Alabama - Birmingham University of Alabama - Huntsville University of Alberta University of Amsterdam University of Arizona University of Arkansas University of Arkansas - Little Rock University of Athens University of Auckland University of Augsburg University of Bamberg University of Bath University of Bayreuth University of Bergen University of Bern University of Birmingham University of Bonn University of Bremen University of Bristol University of British Columbia University of Buenos Aires University of Calgary University of Cambridge University of Canterbury University of Cape Town University of Central Florida University of Chicago University of Cincinnati University of Colorado - Denver University of Colorado Boulder University of Connecticut University of Copenhagen University of Crete University of Delaware University of Denver University of Duisburg-Essen University of Dundee University of Düsseldorf University of Edinburgh University of Erlangen–Nuremberg University of Essex University of Exeter University of Florida University of Freiburg University of Georgia University of Glasgow University of Groningen University of Guelph University of Göttingen University of Haifa University of Halle-Wittenberg University of Hamburg University of Hannover University of Hawaii at Manoa University of Helsinki University of Hildesheim University of Hong Kong University of Houston University of Idaho University of Illinois at Chicago University of Ioannina University of Iowa University of Kansas University of Kassel University of Kent University of Kentucky University of Kiel University of Koblenz-Landau University of Konstanz University of L'Aquila University of Leeds University of Leipzig University of Liverpool University of Louisiana - Lafayette University of Louisville University of Luxembourg University of Lübeck University of Magdeburg University of Maine University of Mainz University of Malaya University of Malta University of Manchester University of Manitoba University of Mannheim University of Marburg University of Maryland - College Park University of Massachusetts Amherst University of Massachusetts Boston University of Massachusetts Lowell University of Melbourne University of Memphis University of Miami University of Michigan University of Michigan-Dearborn University of Minnesota University of Mississippi University of Missouri University of Missouri - Kansas City University of Molise University of Montreal University of Murcia University of Münster University of Nebraska University of Nebraska - Omaha University of Nevada University of Nevada Las Vegas University of New Brunswick University of New Hampshire University of New Mexico University of New Orleans University of Newcastle University of North Carolina University of North Texas University of Notre Dame University of Nottingham University of Oklahoma University of Oldenburg University of Oregon University of Osnabrück University of Otago University of Ottawa University of Oxford University of Passau University of Pennsylvania University of Piraeus University of Pisa University of Pittsburgh University of Potsdam University of Queensland University of Regina University of Rochester University of Rostock University of Salerno University of Salzburg University of Sannio University of Saskatchewan University of Sheffield University of Siegen University of South Carolina University of South Florida University of Southampton University of Southern California University of Southern Mississippi University of St Andrews University of Stuttgart University of Surrey University of Sussex University of Sydney University of Szeged University of Tartu University of Technology Sydney University of Tennessee University of Texas - El Paso University of Texas at Arlington University of Texas at Austin University of Texas at Dallas University of Texas at San Antonio University of Tokyo University of Toronto University of Trento University of Trier University of Tsukuba University of Tulsa University of Tübingen University of Ulm University of Utah University of Vermont University of Victoria University of Vienna University of Virginia University of Waikato University of Warsaw University of Warwick University of Washington University of Waterloo University of Western Australia University of Windsor University of Wisconsin - Madison University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee University of Wroclaw University of Wuppertal University of Wyoming University of Würzburg University of York University of Zurich Università della Svizzera italiana Université Jean Monnet Université de Sherbrooke Université libre de Bruxelles Uppsala University Utah State University Utrecht University VU Amsterdam Vanderbilt University Victoria University of Wellington Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Tech Waseda University Washington State University Washington University in St. Louis Wayne State University Weizmann Institute of Science West Virginia University Western Michigan University Western University Westlake University Worcester Polytechnic Institute Wuhan University Yale University Yonsei University York University Yıldız Technical University Zhejiang University

Why did I do this?
I dunno. Twiddling the boxes on CSrankings felt meaningful? Now it doesn't? There are 45 institutions that are "Number One" as of 13-Jun-2021.
How did I do this?
This was fun! The csrankings code on github (https://github.com/emeryberger/CSRankings) will generate a table of adjusted counts per institution per venue (grouped into subfields). It determines the rank according to the geometric mean of this count (+1) for the selected areas. The geometric mean is the arithmetic mean in log space. The rank of an institution is the number of institutions with a higher geometric mean (plus one). This is the L0 norm of the rectified difference of means. Relaxing this to the L1 norm, I applied gradient descent from ~60 random starting positions, breaking ties to maximize count distance to the next best ranked institution. I bought a faster computer and now I'm just brute-forcing the 2^26 different topic-area checkbox combinations. The relaxation is probably still a good idea when gaming individual venues (2^75), but CSrankings URLs can encode topic areas but not venue selections.
Does this make it easy to see the unique strengths of particular institutions?
In general, no. Often boxes are selected not because a school is particularly good at that field, but rather because selecting it more negatively affects competitors. For example, Univeristy of Toronto is CSranked 3rd in the world for HCI and 5th for Graphics. With ~14 faculty in these areas, its safe to say University of Toronto is "good" at HCI and Graphics. If we try to game CSrankings' checkboxes by checking HCI and Graphics then this puts University of Toronto only in 2nd CSrank: below CMU. To game all the way to #1, Visualization needs to be included. CSranking on just Visualization, University of Toronto is merely 23rd. Importantly however, CMU is significantly lower at 173th. If you're a student interested in HCI, Graphics and Visualization, then checking these boxes could still be meaningful. But if you're a department chair, hiring committee member or faculty crawling CSrankings to size up your department relative to others, then this emergent behavior in these gaming results should give you great pause to reflect on whether your endeavour is worthy. I've created another site, CSRankings Profile, which generates a more wholistic view of an institution based in its csrankings.