<p>Hi I was wondering which universities have excellent materials science programs. Is materials engineering the same as materials science?</p>
<p>Northwestern, which instituted the world's first material science and engineering department.</p>
<p>Materials Science, Materials Engineering, and Materials Science & Engineering are all very similar programs, though usually the name can give you a hint as to where the department originated and what their focus is. Here at Caltech the department is Materials Science, as there isn't a whole lot of engineering and it's a lot closer to applied physics.</p>
<p>Here's the US News ranking for undergrad:
[quote]
Undergraduate engineering specialties:
Materials
(At schools whose highest degree is a doctorate)
Methodology
1 Stanford University (CA)
2 University of CaliforniaBerkeley *
3 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
3 University of MichiganAnn Arbor *
5 U. of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign *
6 Cornell University (NY)
6 Northwestern University (IL)
8 Pennsylvania State U.University Park *
9 Georgia Institute of Technology *
10 University of Florida *
11 Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
12 Ohio State UniversityColumbus *
12 Purdue Univ.West Lafayette (IN)*
14 Univ. of WisconsinMadison *
15 University of Pennsylvania
[/quote]
</p>
<p>And for grad: </p>
<p>
[quote]
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4.8
2. Northwestern University (McCormick) (IL) 4.6
University of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign 4.6
4. University of CaliforniaBerkeley 4.5
University of CaliforniaSanta Barbara 4.5
6. Stanford University (CA) 4.4
7. Cornell University (NY) 4.3
Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity Park 4.3
9. Georgia Institute of Technology 4.2
University of Florida 4.2
University of MichiganAnn Arbor 4.2
12. California Institute of Technology 3.9
Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 3.9
14. Ohio State University 3.7
Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette (IN) 3.7
16. Harvard University (MA) 3.5
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) 3.5
University of MinnesotaTwin Cities 3.5
University of Pennsylvania 3.5
20. University of TexasAustin 3.4
University of WisconsinMadison 3.4
22. Johns Hopkins University (Whiting) (MD) 3.3
Lehigh University (Rossin) (PA) 3.3
North Carolina State University 3.3
University of CaliforniaLos Angeles (Samueli) 3.3
26. Case Western Reserve University (OH) 3.2
University of CaliforniaDavis 3.2
University of CaliforniaSan Diego (Jacobs) 3.2
University of Virginia 3.2
University of Washington 3.2
31. Brown University (RI) 3.1
Colorado School of Mines 3.1
Iowa State University 3.1
University of MarylandCollege Park (Clark) 3.1
Virginia Tech 3.1
36. Arizona State University (Fulton) 3.0
Rice University (Brown) (TX) 3.0
Rutgers, the State University of New JerseyNew Brunswick 3.0
University of Southern California (Viterbi) 3.0
40. University of MissouriRolla 2.9
41. Drexel University (PA) 2.8
42. Alfred Univ.New York State Col. of Ceramics (Inamori) 2.7
Columbia University (Fu Foundation) (NY) 2.7
Michigan Technological University 2.7
SUNYStony Brook 2.7
46. Clemson University (SC) 2.6
Michigan State University 2.6
University of Arizona 2.6
University of CaliforniaIrvine (Samueli) 2.6
University of Cincinnati 2.6
University of Connecticut 2.6
52. Dartmouth College (Thayer) (NH) 2.5
University of Delaware 2.5
University of Pittsburgh 2.5
University of TennesseeKnoxville 2.5
University of Utah 2.5
Washington State University 2.5
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I went to CMU for undergrad and absolutely loved the program there. The major's more than doubled in size since I left two years ago (my year graduated around 16 people, I think this current year was ~35) due to the increased interest in renewable energy. The faculty are all extremely friendly, intelligent, and tend to write good homework sets.</p>
<p>I visited Cornell and thought the program looked pretty good, but I can't say much more than that since I chose not to go there. :( I do believe they're the home of the MRSEC program, which is a nationwide initiative to study fundamental problems in materials science.</p>
<p>If you've got any questions about MSE in general or want to know about CMU feel free to PM/AIM me. I think I'm the only MSE that frequents the Engineering board below, but you might want to post a thread like this there, too, to see what other peoples' impressions of the MSE program at their schools were like.</p>
<p>Great! Thank you :D</p>