Ultimate Materials Science & Engineering Thread

<p>This thread is for all things Materials Science & Engineering(MSE). From what I've seen, this isn't that popular of a major and not even a well known major. So this thread is to highlight and compile information on it. Post links to other threads that might shed more light on this major if you will.</p>

<p>Okay, I've graduated undergrad with a MSE BS degree and whenever I tell someone I have, they ask what it is. Has anyone come up with a good spiel to spout out? I heard about one person just not even trying and telling people he makes toilets(my majors name at my alma mater was actually recently changed from Ceramic Engineering to Ceramic & Materials Engineering to MSE finally) and another say he makes stuff, pretty vague. In fact, my family still has no real concept in what I graduated with. Going to graduate school soon in the fall as well, so I don't want to seem as stupid as I really am if someone asks about what I do.</p>

<p>Materials Engineering:
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4.8
2 University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 4.6
3 Northwestern University (McCormick) Evanston, IL 4.5
3 University of California--Berkeley Berkeley, CA 4.5
5 University of California--Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 4.4
6 Stanford University Stanford, CA 4.3
7 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 4.2
8 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 4.1
8 University of Florida Gainesville, FL 4.1
10 Cornell University Ithaca, NY 4.0
10 Pennsylvania State University--University Park University Park, PA 4.0
12 Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 3.9
13 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 3.8
14 Ohio State University Columbus, OH 3.7
14 Purdue University--West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN 3.7
14 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 3.7
17 University of Wisconsin--Madison Madison, WI 3.5
18 Lehigh University (Rossin) Bethlehem, PA 3.4
19 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY 3.3
19 University of Minnesota--Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN 3.3
19 University of Texas--Austin (Cockrell) Austin, TX 3.3
22 Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH 3.2
22 Harvard University Cambridge, MA 3.2
22 University of California--Davis Davis, CA 3.2
22 University of California--Los Angeles (Samueli) Los Angeles, CA 3.2
22 University of Washington Seattle, WA 3.2
22 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 3.2
28 Iowa State University Ames, IA 3.1
28 Johns Hopkins University (Whiting) Baltimore, MD 3.1
28 North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 3.1
28 University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 3.1
32 Brown University Providence, RI 3.0
32 Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey--Piscataway, NJ 3.0
32 University of California--San Diego (Jacobs) La Jolla, CA 3.0
32 University of Maryland--College Park (Clark) College Park, MD 3.0
32 University of Southern California (Viterbi) Los Angeles, CA 3.0
37 Arizona State University (Fulton) Tempe, AZ 2.9
37 Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO 2.9
39 Drexel University Philadelphia, PA 2.8
39 Missouri University of Science & Technology Rolla, MO 2.8
41 Columbia University (Fu Foundation) New York, NY 2.7
41 Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 2.7
41 Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI 2.7
41 Rice University (Brown) Houston, TX 2.7
41 University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 2.7
41 Washington State University Pullman, WA 2.7
47 Alfred University--New York State College of Ceramics (Inamori) Alfred, NY 2.6
47 Clemson University Clemson, SC 2.6
47 SUNY--Stony Brook Stony Brook, NY 2.6
47 University of California--Irvine (Samueli) Irvine, CA 2.6
47 University of Delaware Newark, DE 2.6
52 Dartmouth College (Thayer) Hanover, NH 2.5
52 University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, OH 2.5
52 University of Connecticut Storrs, CT 2.5
52 University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 2.5</p>

<p>If someone has a link to that study of growth in the field and salary info for all the different kinds of engineers, that has a fantastic description of what MSE is about.</p>

<p>I think we should also mention our schools so if someone is interested in MSE and looking at particular schools, they could ask us about our impressions of the program at that particular school.</p>

<p>Undergrad: Carnegie Mellon
Grad: Caltech</p>

<p>Im in University of Florida's MSE program. I love it. Its very unique, but with many opportunities in industry. Especially compared to other engineering dept's on campus. MSE is very well respected, and increasingly well known in the engineering world.</p>

<p>I'd love to be able to DESIGN new materials with an MS at most. </p>

<p>I'm dreaming again.</p>

<p>I hope we get more info in this thread. Im going to be a freshmen at UIUC looking into MSE</p>

<p>AdamJW, do you know the research areas at UF's MSE? The site setup is weird, and I'm considering applying next year for grad</p>

<p>The complete list is as follows:</p>

<p>Biomaterials<br>
Ceramics<br>
Composite Materials<br>
Electronic Materials
Metals Minerals<br>
Nanomaterials<br>
Polymers
Biomedical Applications<br>
Biomimetics<br>
Material Characterization
Computational Materials Science<br>
Corrosion<br>
Deformation and Fracture of Materials
Fibers & Mixed Systems<br>
Fuel Cells
Hydrogen Production<br>
Materials Chemistry<br>
Nuclear/Radioactive Materials
Optical and Optoelectronics<br>
Particle Science<br>
Processing and Synthesis
Semiconductors and Ferroelectrics<br>
Sensors<br>
Student Learning and Cognition
Surface Science<br>
Thermodynamics<br>
Thin Films
Tissue Engineering </p>

<p>I cant speak for the other departments, but I work with electronic materials and feel very comfortable within the college (in comparison to other MSE programs I have visited / worked with). There is a lot of funding by both government and private sponsors. They are also trying to incorporate nanotechnology into the materials dept. A lot of these fields overlap and most research projects incorporate multiple fields. Also, MSE has the newest facilities and best funding of any of the engineering departments on campus.</p>

<p>I was originally an undergrad in MatSE at UIUC before switching to ECE during my sophomore year. MatSE classes at UIUC are small so you'll see people over and over again over the span of your college years and more likely than not, your professor will know your first name.</p>

<p>I switched because I found some of the older aspects of MatSE (metallurgy and ceramics) boring and wanted to pursue a discipline more quantitative in nature. Nonetheless, MatSE is very hot right now and it won't surprise me to burgeon in popularity (if it hasn't already). Without materials there would be no engineering.</p>

<p>I personally believe MSE (an interdiscplinary field) will change the world. Although the foundation and fundamentals are "boring," the applications are intensely valuable. I don't see how this could be considered a "small" discipline. </p>

<p>I mean the Silicon Valley boom was spurred by hardware innovations based on materials engineering and processing toolsets. Without the hardware, there is no software to run on. The limitations to computing progress are, in the end, physical (or quantum physical if on the nano-computing scale). </p>

<p>The industrial revolution was based on metallurgical foundations (railroad, industrial infrastructure). Biomaterials is a evolving field which will change the face of medical practice and treatment (e.g. timed release drugs with biocompatible materials). Mineral resources and environmental areas are also worked on by materials engineers world-wide in terms of optimizing materials selection decisions in engineering applications so that our society's existence will minimize the impact it has on Earth's natural resources and any hazards to the environment. New high temperature and radiation shielding materials has given life to aeronautical engineering.</p>

<p>Every "age" of mankind was based on new discoveries in materials processing techniques (Stone Age, Iron age, Bronze Age). Modern research in the MSE area will revolutionize energy derivation sources (solar PV, fuel cells, etc). </p>

<p>In this light, materials science and engineering is not just "hot right now", it has been hot since the dawn of humankind, imho.</p>

<p>I'm a ChemE btw. haha.</p>

<p>You misunderstood what i meant by 'hot right now'. MatSE is a relatively small major in terms of employment/participation. Well at least in 2006, materials engineers comprised 25k of 1.5 million engineers 'holding jobs', compared to 256k civil engineers ( [url=<a href="http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm%5DEngineers%5B/url"&gt;http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm]Engineers[/url&lt;/a&gt;] ) . </p>

<p>As previously stated, it wouldn't surprise me if in the future, materials engineers make up a greater percentage of the figure mentioned above.</p>

<p>Undergrad: Rutgers
Grad: Undecided(right now looks like UF for MS; need final decisions from other places, have until 28th to decide)</p>

<p>Does anyone have the undergraduate 2009 ratings from US News? I can get 2008, but up-to-date is nicer.</p>

<p>Some links to some threads that are about MSE; the second one has a nice link to another page, unfortunately it doesn't have MSE on it anymore.</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/465602-what-s-material-engineering-like.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/465602-what-s-material-engineering-like.html&lt;/a>
"Everything Americans use is composed of materials, from computer chips to flexible concrete skyscrapers, from plastic bags to artificial hips, from fiber optical cables to automobiles. Materials science and engineering makes these materials reliable and useful through design, processing and analysis of controlled compositions, microstructures and properties."</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/447076-materials-science-need-know-more-about.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/447076-materials-science-need-know-more-about.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/438262-materials-science.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/438262-materials-science.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/431217-how-hard-materials-science-compared-other-fields.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/431217-how-hard-materials-science-compared-other-fields.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>At BASF, we don't make your major appliances. We make your major appliances better.</p>

<p>Undergraduate engineering specialties:
Materials
(At schools whose highest degree is a doctorate)
Methodology
1 Stanford University (CA)
2 University of California–Berkeley *
3 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology
3 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor *
5 U. of Illinois–Urbana-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 University–Columbus *
12 Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)*
14 Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison *
15 University of Pennsylvania</p>

<p><a href="http://www.matsci.northwestern.edu/Mat_Sci_Open_House_2007.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.matsci.northwestern.edu/Mat_Sci_Open_House_2007.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>What makes Stanford's program superior? I've heard that the undergraduate program is quite small --- last year's graduating class size was <5. I suppose there is excellent opportunity for bonding to professors and engaging in research.</p>

<p>Two of my friends from undergrad decided to go there, and last I had heard they were somewhat happy with their decision to go there.</p>

<p>I know Addwit on here is a grad at Stanford, so he might be able to give a little more info on the school.</p>

<p>Also, I wouldn't worry about the undergrad program being small. 4-5 years ago CMU's MSE program had less than 10 students for just about every year, and it's only been since the class of 2006 or so that it's taken off. I was 2007 and we had around 16 grads, 2008 will have in the high 20s, and 2009 should be in the low/mid 30s. They might have just had a weak year or something.</p>

<p>MSE Sophomore at Virginia Tech. Not the highest school in the rankings but we're one of the more active and if you get active within MSE you'll have 0 trouble with internships and jobs. We have very small classes since there are only around 25-30 people in any given class of MSE. So you'll be seeing the same people in just about every class until you start specializing, which can be a good and a bad thing. For example, I've got 4 classes next year in the same room, with the same people. But I like them so it's alright.</p>

<p>I'm specializing in metals, although I haven't gotten any more specific than that yet. I may be doing the 4+1 grad program (4 years of undergrad with a strong focus the senior year then one year of grad school gets you a grad degree) although I haven't decided yet. I've had an internship for this summer since October because of contacts within the department. Also, theres alway research during the schoolyear and summer that you can latch on to pretty easily. If anybody has any questions they can either PM me or I'll try to pop in the thread from time to time.</p>

<p>
[quote]
What makes Stanford's program superior? I've heard that the undergraduate program is quite small --- last year's graduating class size was <5. I suppose there is excellent opportunity for bonding to professors and engaging in research.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Take that ranking with a grain of salt. I personally think Northwestern is underrated in the undergrad ranking. Look at the link in post #15. The presentation slides were prepared in 2005 (it got a photo of class of 2005); according to slide #14, Northwestern placed first in 2001, 2004, and 2005 in TMS Undergrad Student Design Competition and received honorable mention in 2003. No other school had better record in that 5-yr span. It's ironic that the graduate ranking, which puts it #2, may actually be more accurate!</p>

<p>Just curious, I'm wondering where everyone is in their life since majoring in MSE, have they gone on to get a PhD, gotten a job that MSE is important for, or whatever. I'm just curious since I'm gonna start on my Masters this fall and hopefully my PhD afterwards.</p>