In 1992, U.S. News and World Report named UAB as the #1 up-and-coming university in the United States. In 1993, UAB's economic impact on the Birmingham region was estimated at more than $1.5 billion per year (the figure would be $2 billion per year by 1998). In 1994, UAB became the first Alabama university to achieve "Research University I" status in the Carnegie Foundation classification.