Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• ENG MS 539: Introduction to Materials Science and Engineering
  MS539 is an introductory graduate level course in Materials Science and Engineering. It is intended for students who wish to be introduced to the basics of why materials behave the way they do. It covers topics such as atomic bonding, why and how solids form and their structures, phase transitions, phase diagrams, electronic/magnetic/optical/thermal properties of materials, materials processing and how it influences their properties, ceramics, polymers, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, glasses and societal concern in the use and re-use of materials.
• ENG MS 545: Electrochemistry of Fuel Cells and Batteries
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: ENG MS 505.
  Topics covered include Fundamental Electrochemistry of solid-state materials as well as aqueous and non-aqueous systems including molten salts. Thermodynamics and kinetics of electrode reactions and associated mass transport in electrochemical systems. Measurements techniques (dc polarization, ac impedance spectroscopy, blocking electrodes, etc.) used in characterizing electrochemical systems. Design of devices including fuel cells, batteries, and sensors. Electrochemical processes including membrane separation and electrolysis. Same as ENG ME 545. Students may not receive credits for both.
• ENG MS 549: Structure and Function of the Extracellular Matrix
  This is an introductory course dealing with the detailed structure of the basic units of the extracellular matrix including collagen, elastin, microfibrils and proteoglycans as well as the functional properties of these molecules. The focus is mostly on how the structure of these components determine the functional properties such as elasticity at different scales from molecule to fibrils to organ level behavior. The biological role of these components and their interaction with cells is also covered. Interaction ofenzymes and the matrix in the presence of mechanical forces is discussed. Mathematical modeling is applied at various length scales of the extracellular matrix that provides quantitative understanding of the structure and function relationship. Special topics include how diseases affect extracellular matrix in the lung, cartilage and vasculature. The relevance of the properties of native extracellular matrix for tissue engineering is also discussed. Same as ENG BE 549 and ENG ME 549. Students may not receive credit for both.
• ENG MS 555: MEMS: Fabrication and Materials
  This course will explore the world of microelectromechanical devices and systems (MEMS). This requires an awareness of design, fabrication, and material issues involved in MEMS. The material will be covered through a combination of lectures, case studies, and individual homework assignments. The course will cover design, fabrication technologies, material properties, structural mechanics, basic sensing and actuation principles, packaging, and MEMS markets and applications. The course will emphasize MEMS fabrication and materials. Same as ENG ME 555. Students may not receive credits for both.
• ENG MS 573: Solar Energy Systems
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: ENG EK 408; Graduate standing or permission of the instructor. ENG EC471 is suggested.
  This course is designed for first-year graduate and senior undergraduate students from engineering disciplines and is intended to educate students in the design and application of solar energy technology. It will focus on fundamentals of solar energy conversion, solar cells, optical engineering, photoelectrochemical cells, thermoelectric generators, and energy storage and distribution systems. The course covers solar energy insolation and global energy needs, current trends in photovoltaic energy engineering, solar cell material science, design and installation of solar panels for residential and industrial applications and connections to the national grid and cost analysis of the overall system. In addition, basic manufacturing processes for the production of solar panels, environmental impacts, and the related system engineering aspects will be included to provide a comprehensive state-of-the art approach to solar energy utilization. Same as ENG EC 573. Students may not receive credits for both.
• ENG MS 574: Physics of Semiconductor Materials
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS PY 313 or ENG EC 410; or equivalent
  This course teaches the relevant notions of quantum mechanics and solid state physics necessary to understand the operation and the design of modern semiconductor devices. Specifically, this course focuses on the engineering aspects of solid state physics that are important to study the electrical and optical properties of semiconductor materials and devices. Particular emphasis is placed on the analysis of the electronic structure of semiconductor bulk systems and low-dimensional structures, the study of the carrier transport properties and the calculation of the optical response that are relevant to the design and optimization of electronics and photonics semiconductor devices. The students will learn to apply the quantum mechanical formalism to the solution of basic engineering device problems (quantum wells, wires, and dots, 2D electron gas) and to perform numerical calculation on more complex systems (band structure calculation of bulk and low dimensional systems). Same as ENG EC 574. Students may not receive credits for both.
• ENG MS 576: Nanomanufacturing and Hierarchical Materials
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: ENG ME 304 ; ENG ME 305 ; ENG ME 306; Senior, or graduate standing
  Nanoscale materials are often celebrated as having unique properties that exceed their bulk counterparts. However, leveraging such nanoscale materials as components in bulk materials is challenging as it requires (1) making enough material to be relevant on bulk scales and (2) incorporating nanomaterials at a bulk scale in amannerso as to maximize their effect. The structural ordering of these nanomaterials can range from disordered, as in the case of nanocomposites, to highly ordered, as is generally the case in metamaterials. This course is designed to communicate he state-of-the-art, challenges, and opportunities of constructing hierarchical materials with nanoscale constituents. Same as ENG ME 576. Students may not receive credits for both.
• ENG MS 577: Electronic Optical and Magnetic Properties of Materials
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS PY 313; or equivalent, ENG EC 574 suggested.
  This course in intended to develop an in depth knowledge of solid state concepts that are important for students in the areas of material science and electrical engineering. Specifically, this course focuses on the study of different apsect of solid state physics necessary to study technologically relevant crytalline and amorphous systems. Particular enphasis is placed on the study of the crystal structure, crystal diffraction and the related techniques used as diagnostic tools; the electronic, thermal, optical and magnetic properties of material systems important for electronics and photonics device applications. Furthermore the course will also consider the theory of superconductivity, the chemistry aspcts of solid state materials and will provide an introduction to solid state biophysics. This course complements EC 574 (Physics of semiconductor material) and EC575 (semiconductor devices) with its focus on technologically relevant structural, optical, thermal and magnetic material properties. Meets with ENG EC 577. Students may not receive credit for both.
• ENG MS 580: Theory of Elasticity
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: ENG ME 309; or equivalent
  An introduction to the general theory of solid deformation; small deformation emphasized. Topics include: Cartesian tensors, indicial notation. Introduction to continuum mechanics: deformation of continuous media, deformation gradient, strain definitions. Stress, Cauchy's postulate, Cauchy and Piola-Kirchhoff stress tensors. Balance laws. Constitutive equations, strain energy and Green's postulate. Linear Elasticity: Two dimensional problems, Airy stress function, in plane loading of strips, St. Venant's principle, complex variable methods, Goursat-Muskhelishvili representation, stress concentrations around holes and cracks. Three dimensional problems, Kelvin's solution, the Boussinesq problem, Hertzian contact, Eshelby's energy-momentum tensor. Same as ENG ME 580. Students may not receive credits for both.
• ENG MS 582: Mechanical Behavior of Materials
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: ENG ME 309 and ENG ME 400; or equivalent
  Fundamental concepts of modern materials behavior and materials engineering. Emphasis on analytical and numerical methods for predicting material properties and behavior, as well as some discussion of the relationships between solid structure and material properties. Topics include: constitutive relations, fracture, fatigue, plasticity, creep, damping, impact, and deformation. Elastic, plastic, and viscous behavior. Some discussion of the effects of processing--thermodynamics, kinetics--may be addressed. Specific examples from ceramics, metals, polymers, and composites is given, with the emphasis changing for each offering. Same as ENG ME 582. Students may not receive credits for both.
• ENG MS 700: Advanced Special Topics
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor.
  Advanced study of a specific research topic in materials science and engineering. Intended primarily for advanced graduate students.
• ENG MS 726: Fundamentals of Biomaterials
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: ENG EK 301 ; ENG EK 424 ; CAS CH 101 ; CAS CH 102 ; ENG BE 209.
  Provides the chemistry and engineering skills needed to solve challenges in the biomaterials and tissue engineering area, concentrating on the fundamental principles in biomedical engineering, material science, and chemistry. Covers the structure and properties of hard materials (ceramics and metals) and soft materials (polymers and hydro-gels). Same as ENG BE 526, ENG BE 726, ME 726. Students may not receive credit for both.
• ENG MS 727: Principles and Applications of Tissue Engineering
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: ENG EK 301 ; ENG EK 424 ; CAS CH 101 ; CAS CH 102 ; ENG BE 209.
  Provides the chemistry and engineering skills needed to solve challenges in the biomaterials and tissue engineering area, concentrating on cell-biomaterial interactions, soft tissue mechanics and specific research topics. Students will write a NIH-style grant proposal on a specific research topic. Note that the laboratory portion is not offered in MS 727. Same as ENG BE 527, ENG BE 727, ENG ME 727. Students may not receive credit for both.
• ENG MS 736: Biomedical Transport Phenomena
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: ENG BE 436.
  Students are introduced to the analysis and characterization of physiological systems and biomedical devices in which chemical reaction and the transport of mass and momentum play predominant roles. Fundamental scientific issues and analytical techniques are introduced and applied to case studies of specific engineering problems. Some knowledge of a high-level computer programming language is essential. A two-hour computer lab is required.
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• ENG MS 774: Semiconductor Quantum Structures and Photonic Devices
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: ENG EK 500; or equivalent, knowledge of stochastic processes, or consent of the instructor.
  Optical properties of semiconductors: interband optical transitions; excitons. Low-dimensional structures: quantum wells, superlattices, quantum wires, quantum dots, and their optical properties; intersubband transitions. Lasers: double-heterojunction, quantum-well, quantum-dot, and quantum-cascade lasers; high-speed laser dynamics. Electro-optical properties of bulk and low-dimensional semiconductors; electroabsorption modulators. Detectors: photoconductors and photodiodes; quantum-well infrared photodetectors. Same as ENG EC 774. Students may not receive credit for both.
• ENG MS 781: Electroceramics
  This course will explore the structure property relationships and phenomena in ceramic materials used in electronic, dielectric, ferroelectric, magnetic, and electrochemical applications. In particular we will discover how to functionalize a component for a particular application- a capacitor, a thermistor, actuator, or a fuel cell. Such a discovery process demands an in-depth understanding of the roles and interrelationships between the crystal structure, defect chemistry, microstructure, and texture in such materials. Statistical thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, and solid mechanics principles will be used as and when necessary in the course. The course is intended to fit in the space and act as a bridge between solid state theory where the emphasis is largely on theory and a ceramic materials course where the emphasis is largely on processing. Same as ENG ME 781. Students may not receive credits for both.
• ENG MS 782: Advanced Materials Characterization
  This course will discuss the characterization of materials' atomic and electronic structure. Atomic structure evaluation by x-ray diffraction, selected area- and convergent-beam electron diffraction; microstructure evaluation by transmission electron microscopy, principles of bright-field, dark-field and weak-beam imaging; principles of analytical electron microscopy using EDS, WDS, AES; study of chemical and bonding states by EELS, Raman spectroscopy and XPS/ESCA; laser-based non-destructive evaluation of mechanical properties of materials. Characterization methods for semiconductors include the study of point defects by electron paramagnetic resonance, of transport properties by magnetoresistance and Hall effect, of recombination phenomena by photoluminescennce and of junction properties by capacitance-voltage methods.
• ENG MS 810: PhD Internship in Material Science & Engineering
  Graduate Prerequisites: Permission of advisor and an approved internship offer; at least two complete semesters in the SE PhD program.
  This course provides MSE PhD students the opportunity to include a paid internship as part of their professional training. The internship must be related to the student's are of study. International students require CPT authorization. Written summary required. Graded P/F. Prerequisite: Permission of advisor and an approved internship offer; at least two complete semesters in the MSE PhD program. Full-time (30-40 hours/week for at least 12 weeks) = 4 credits; part-time (15-20 hours/week for at least 12 weeks) = 2 credits.
• ENG MS 819: MS Phd Interns
  
• ENG MS 900: PhD Research
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: Graduate standing.
  Graduate Prerequisites: Restricted to pre-prospectus PhD students.
  Participation in a research project under the direction of a faculty advisor leading to the preparation and defense of a PhD prospectus.