Materials Science & Engineering

Division of Materials Science & Engineering

Structured Course Requirements for MS and Postbachelor PhD Students

MS and postbachelor PhD students must take 6 structured courses (24 credits) from the list below.  These are the 4 core courses and 2 concentration courses in a given concentration area listed below. The remaining two courses are not restricted, provided they have some engineering, science or engineering management content. Only one of the two courses may be at the 400 level.

MSE Curriculum Core (4 courses)

  • MS/EC 577 Electrical, Optical, and Magnetic Properties of Materials or
  • PY 543 Introduction to Solid State Physics
  • Both courses listed above cannot be used to satisfy credit requirements.
  • MS/ME 505 Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
  • MS/ME 503 Kinetic Processes in Materials
  • MS/EC 574 Physics of Semiconductor Materials or
  • MS 504 Polymers and Soft Materials or
  • MS/ME 582 Mechanical Behavior of Materials or
  • MS/ME 508 Computational Methods in Materials Science

Concentration

(2 courses from any one concentration area)

Biomaterials

  • BE 506 Physical Chemistry of Cell Structure and Machinery
  • BE 521 Continuum Mechanics for Biomedical Engineers
  • MS/ME/BE 523 Mechanics of Biomaterials
  • MS/ME/BE 524 Skeletal Tissue Mechanics
  • BE 533 Biorheology
  • MS/ME/BE 726 Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering
  • MS/ME/BE 727 Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering II
  • MS/BE 736 Biomedical Transport Phenomena
  • MS/ME 742 Bio-Fluids and Structural Mechanics
  • PY 744 Polymer Physics
  • PY 771 Biophysics

Materials for Energy and Environment

  • MS/ME 527 Transport Phenomena in Materials Processing
  • MS/ME 532 Atomic Structure and Dislocations in Materials
  • MS/ME 535 Green Manufacturing
  • MS/ME 545 Electrochemistry of Fuel Cells and Batteries
  • MS/EC 573 Solar Energy Systems
  • ME 779 Solid State Ionics and Electrochemistry

Electronic/Photonic Materials

  • EC 560 Introduction to Photonics
  • EC 575 Physics of Semiconductor Devices
  • EC 578 Fabrication Technology for Integrated Circuits
  • EC 770 Guided-Wave Optoelectronics
  • EC 776 Fundamentals of Nanoelectronics
  • EC 777 Nanostructure Optics

Nanomaterials

  • ME 530 Introduction to Micro and Nanomechanics of Solids
  • ME 555 MEMS Fabrication and Materials
  • ME 718 Advanced Topics in Nanotechnology
  • EC 777 Nanostructure Optics
  • ME 778 Micromachined Transducers

Other courses

  • MS/ME 507 Process Modeling and Control
  • MS/ME 526 Simulation of Physical Processes
  • MS/ME 534 Materials Technology for Microelectronics
  • ME/EC 579 Microelectronic Device Manufacturing
  • MS/ME 580 Theory of Elasticity
  • PY 783 Advanced Characterization of Materials

Advisors

Upon entry into the Materials Science & Engineering Program, each student will be appointed an academic advisor from the MSE faculty.  The advisor will act as the student’s primary academic advisor until the student selects a research advisor(s).

Qualifying Examinations

Doctoral students must demonstrate competency in applied mathematics and pass the materials PhD qualifying examination by the end of their second year. The qualifying examination is derived from the courses listed in the core curriculum (see above), and has a written and an oral component. It is strongly suggested that students complete their prospectus defense within 2 years of advancing to PhD candidacy. This examination consists of an oral examination defending a research prospectus developed by the student. The Prospectus Defense Committee will typically also later serve as the PhD Dissertation Committee.

Language Requirement

There is no foreign language requirement for the Materials Science & Engineering degree. However, basic mastery of spoken and written English as determined by oral presentations, written reports, and publishable manuscripts, is a requirement for the PhD.

Dissertation

The PhD candidate is expected to carry out original research under the guidance of a research advisor(s), who will monitor their progress toward the degree. Doctoral students must defend a written dissertation before a Dissertation Committee by the end of the fifth year of candidacy. The student must have at least a one-year gap between their prospectus defense and final dissertation defense. The Dissertation Committee must have a minimum of five members including the chair. At least two members of the committee must be affiliated with the Division of Materials Science & Engineering, and at least two members must be affiliated with the College of Engineering.

Admission and Financial Aid

PhD graduate students may obtain financial aid in the form of competitive teaching fellowships or research assistantships available from grants or contracts held by faculty members. Annual (12 month) stipends are approximately $28,200. Other traineeship funding may also be available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents.