Master of Science in Engineering - Materials Science and Engineering (Optional Co-op)

Materials are essential to the construction of any engineering structure, from the smallest integrated circuit to the largest bridge. In almost every technology, the performance, reliability, or cost is determined by the materials used. As a result, the drive to develop new materials and processes (or to improve existing ones) makes materials science and engineering one of the most important and dynamic engineering disciplines.

The central theme of materials science and engineering is that the relationships among the structures, properties, processing, and performance of materials are crucial to their function in engineering structures. Materials scientists seek to understand these fundamental relationships and use this understanding to synthesize new materials or develop new processes for producing existing ones. Materials engineers design or select materials for particular applications and develop improved processing techniques. Since materials scientists and engineers must understand the properties of materials as well as their applications, the field is inherently interdisciplinary and draws on aspects of almost every other engineering discipline as well as physics, chemistry, and, most recently, biology. Because the field encompasses so many different areas, it is often categorized according to types of materials (metals, ceramics, polymers, and semiconductors) or to their applications (biomaterials, electronic materials, magnetic materials, or structural materials).

The graduate curriculum provides students with a broad yet thorough grounding in the fundamentals of materials science and engineering. After completing the core curriculum, students pursuing a master's degrees take advanced courses that will allow them to work at the forefront of knowledge in their chosen specialty. Those desiring to conduct original research and advance the frontiers of knowledge pursue a master’s essay. To this end, the department has an outstanding and wide-ranging research program, with particular emphasis on nanomaterials, thin films, metastable materials, biomaterials, computational materials science, and materials characterization.