Academics

  /  

Graduate Study

  /  

Materials Science Engineering (PhD)

Curriculum & Requirements

The following six courses comprise the graduate core curriculum in materials science and engineering and are to be taken in sequence by all students in their first three quarters (excluding summer) of graduate study.

First Year Core Courses

Fall Quarter

• 401 Chemical and Statistical Thermodynamics of Materials
• 402 Structure of Crystalline and Noncrystalline Materials

Winter Quarter

• 404 Imperfections in Materials
• 408 Phase Transformations in Materials

Spring Quarter

• 405 Physics of Solids
• 406 Symmetry and Mechanical Properties of Materials

Additional Courses

Students take six additional courses, excluding 499.  Three must be 400-level courses, at least two of which must be MatSci courses.  Three must be engineering, mathematics or the physical sciences, selected with advisor approval.  Two of these six courses must constitute a recognizable minor.

Course offerings

General Topics

• 318 Materials Selection
• 333 Composite Materials
• 390 Materials Design
• 391 Process Design

Energy

• 381 Energy Materials
• 382 Electrochemical Energy Materials and Devices
• 483 Solid State Electrochemistry for Energy Storage and Conversion
• 485 Electronic and Thermal Properties of Materials
• 495 Special Topics: Solar Energy Conversion

Computational MSE

• 390 Materials Design
• 391 Process Design
• 411 Phase Transformations in Crystalline Materials
• 458 Computational Materials Science
• ES_APPL 495 Advanced Special Topics: Modeling of Soft Materials

Characterization

• 361 Crystallography and Diffraction
• 380 Introduction to Surface Science and Spectroscopy
• 460 Electron Microscopy
• 461 Diffraction Methods in Materials Science
• 465 Advanced Electron Microscopy and Diffraction
• 466 Analytical Electron Microscopy

Electronic, Photonic, and Magnetic Materials

• 337 Conducting Polymers
• 376 Nanomaterials
• 381 Energy Materials
• 395 Special Topics: Magnetic Properties of Materials
• 398 Introduction to Plasma Science and Processing Technology
• 415 Fundamentals of Thin Film Materials
• 451 Advanced Physics of Materials
• 452 Selected Topics in the Solid State
• 455 Physics of Nanostructures
• 456 Functional Metamaterials
• 485 Electronic and Thermal Properties of Materials

Hard Materials

• 333 Composite Materials
• 340 Ceramic Processing
• 341 Introduction to Modern Ceramics
• 434 Fracture of Brittle Solids
• 435 Special Topics in Mechanical Behavior of Solids

Soft and Hybrid Materials

• 331 Physical Properties of Polymers
• 333 Composite Materials 
• 337 Conducting Polymers
• 370 Biomaterials
• 371 Biominerals: Hierarchical Architecture & Function
• 372 Engineering Strategies in Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine
• 445 Special Topics in High Polymer Science
• 495 Advanced Special Topics: Biomineralization