The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, founded in 1856.

The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York.

The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California.

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, founded in 1900.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, or colloquially the University of Illinois or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois.

Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts.