<p>I'm a first year grad student here at Caltech in their Materials Science program. It's really just a physics program in disguise, sadly. I actually had someone ask, in the middle of a third quarter class that's third in a series of classes, "What's a grain boundary?" A little bit of me died on the inside right then. :(</p>
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I actually had someone ask, in the middle of a third quarter class that's third in a series of classes, "What's a grain boundary?"
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<p>Seeeeriously??? That is so depressing... Then again, I love metallurgy and aspire to be the local weld guru...</p>
<p>"Seeeeriously??? That is so depressing... Then again, I love metallurgy and aspire to be the local weld guru..."</p>
<p>I'm trying to spearhead an outreach program that gets inner city youth off the streets and into metallurgy. I wont be satisfied until bling and hoes is replaced by precipitation hardening and slip planes</p>
<p>gota love them burgers vectors.</p>
<p>I'm currently an ME right now.. I've considered the possibility of studying material science for grad.. how likely is this, and what are some ways I can go about exploring this field?</p>
<p>^ a ton of mechanical engineers (and chemEs) move into materials engineering. I'd suggest undergrad research to explore and thinking which area of materials you want to move into (e.g. fuel cells, ceramics, glasses, high-performance materials, ecomaterials, polymers, biomaterials, catalysts, semiconductors, computational materials etc etc etc.)</p>
<p>this will help you figure whether or not you like the discipline.</p>
<p>Your best way to explore the field would be to try and pick up either a concentration in materials science (if your department offers it) or a minor in MSE if your school has a department in it. Otherwise, I'd recommend getting a freshman level textbook and giving either a browse through it. I always recommend Callister's Materials Science and Engineering, an Introduction as a great book to do this with.</p>
<p>There's lots of research opportunities involving the mechanical behavior of materials, since that's what a lot of MEs seem to care about, but if you're more interested in the "purer" parts of MSE I'm sure you could get into that given the right department. I'd try talking to faculty at your school to get an idea of what sorts of opportunities there are.</p>
<p>do you think a engineering physics undergrad would have an easy transition to say electronic materials?</p>
<p>There's a lot of people doing electronic materials within physics departments, so I imagine you should be able to get into materials programs that have a significant number of people in that field.</p>
<p>I'd try to direct your electives towards the field you'd like to do within materials in grad school. So maybe take some classes in quantum, solid state physics (if possible), and maybe perhaps a class or two on semiconductor physics if possible (often materials departments offer classes on electrical properties of materials which would have that covered).</p>
<p>If my school does not offer a material science undergraduate degree, is EE an acceptable route? I plan to go material science for grad school.</p>
<p>Mechanical engineering is probably a better route... Material science is often combined with mechanical engineering departments, in fact, and you're probably not going to get a lot of mechanics of materials background if you go into electrical engineering.</p>
<p>It really depends on the department in the school you're looking at. In some schools MSE is mixed with ChemE, in others with MechE, and with some it's closer to Physics.</p>
<p>If you're interested in working on electronic devices, then you should be alright with an EE degree for MSE grad school. I'd recommend trying to take some higher-level physics courses like quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and/or solid state physics to show you have an interest in the field, though (if those courses are interesting, of course).</p>
<p>Mechanics of materials isn't that useful when you're doing semiconductor physics. ;)</p>
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If you're interested in working on electronic devices, then you should be alright with an EE degree for MSE grad school. I'd recommend trying to take some higher-level physics courses like quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and/or solid state physics to show you have an interest in the field, though (if those courses are interesting, of course).
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<p>Solid advice. Maybe add condensed matter physics to the list also of physics courses you should take. The quantum mechanics you get in the typical ABET EE curriculum should probably be enough.</p>
<p>If someone is interested, maybe, in chemistry, would materials science be a natural extension of chemistry?</p>
<p>Also, if you couldn't find a job in materials science anywhere, what else could you do with a degree in this field without resorting to attending grad school right away? Is it so similar to another kind of engineering so that you could switch to that other eng field with just the addition of a few more undergrad courses?</p>
<p>Guess it's obvious I'm trying to guarantee some type of employment after college, when in these economic times that might not be possible to do.</p>
<p>A few of my friends here in grad school were Chemistry undergrads and they seem to be doing fine. Materials science tends to work on the length scale of a cluster of atoms (stuff like nanodots, electronic junctions, and nano-sized solid state precipitates) to about a few meters large (single crystal turbine blades, silicon crystal growth, etc). I think chemistry generally deals with things on the smaller side of things, and when it does do large objects it leans more towards the polymer or "sciency" part of ceramics.</p>
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Also, if you couldn't find a job in materials science anywhere, what else could you do with a degree in this field without resorting to attending grad school right away? Is it so similar to another kind of engineering so that you could switch to that other eng field with just the addition of a few more undergrad courses?
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<p>Here's a list of where people from Materials Science at Carnegie Mellon have gone to after graduating over the last three years: <a href="http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/career/employ/salary/Materials.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/career/employ/salary/Materials.pdf</a> As you can see it's pretty much all over the map. As to switching to another field, I don't think it's that easy since it's likely the major you'll have the most in common with is ChemE, but you won't have had any of the fluid classes or any of their upper-level type of things.</p>
<p>I went with materials because I was interested in both physics and chemistry, but wanted a field more applied and dedicated towards discovering important technologies for the future.</p>
<p>I'd also say that a MSE degree is pretty solid right now, even though the Bureau of Labor predicts average growth for the field. We're losing a lot of our more traditional jobs, but many of the newer positions are in green technology, solar power, hydrogen storage, semiconductor technologies, and high-tech things such as that. I think MSE will put you in a really good position for these jobs since while the physicists or chemists might come up with the original idea, they'll need someone that actually knows about how materials behave to make their invention feasible.</p>
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Mechanics of materials isn't that useful when you're doing semiconductor physics.
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<p>Heh... point taken. As a member of the American Welding Society, I'm probably a little biased towards the more "classical" (read: old) material science fields like metallurgy. ;)</p>
<p>just a bump to see if there's anymore insight on this field.</p>
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Heh... point taken. As a member of the American Welding Society, I'm probably a little biased towards the more "classical" (read: old) material science fields like metallurgy.
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<p>Ha, stupid civil. Don't try to understand the world outside of dirt and sledgehammers, your primitive brain will hurt.</p>
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Ha, stupid civil. Don't try to understand the world outside of dirt and sledgehammers, your primitive brain will hurt.
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<p>I know which nail to pull to make your entire house collapse. Just sayin'.</p>
<p>I know this is a really old thread but I have a question regarding MatSE well why else would I post anything on here?
So I am very interested in the section of MatSE that works with Photovoltaics and/or any type of green engineering/materials.
My question is what university offering this major puts the most emphasis on this particular part of MatSE</p>