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Introduction to Materials Science for Prospective Students
Prospective Undergraduates | Prospective Graduate Students
Materials are both what daily life is made of and the basis of high technology. For example, metals for airplanes and cars, drugs for biomedicine, semiconductors for computing, plastics for compact disks, liquid crystals for flat panel television screens, and ceramics for solar cells. There are countless other examples, and still others invented daily. Many of the biggest challenges and opportunities in the modern world revolve around materials – materials in energy applications, in environmental applications, in healthcare applications. To solve these problems requires scientists and engineers who understand how atoms and molecules are spatially arranged (their structure) as well as the properties that result (their function). Materials in every conceivable state of organization, from hard crystalline solids and glasses, to soft liquids, rubbers and gels, are important. College graduates with a degree in materials science and engineering are in high demand because of their interdisciplinary education and their skills are so relevant.
In addition to Materials Science, Materials Engineering focuses on the synthesis of materials in useful quantities, and on the processing of constituent materials into engineering products. Materials Engineering draws heavily on the fundamental knowledge gained from Materials Science, and adapts the processes involved for the scale and requirements of the application.
Undergraduates acquire a broad background in the discipline and then focus on one of the soft materials (biological or polymers) or hard materials (metals, ceramics, or electronic) sub-fields, or even on a cross-cutting theme such as computational materials science. Interested high school students are encouraged to view introductory videos below about these subjects.
Graduate students engage in cutting-edge research that can involve all areas of the discipline. Interested graduate students are encouraged to visit the faculty web pages to find out about research going on in the department.
introductory Videos
The following videos can be played on the free Windows Media. The speed of your Internet connection will determine the quality of the video. For high-speed connections, choose Broadband. For dial-up connections, choose 56k modem.
Ceramics
"Ceramics are known for their high temperature melting points, high mechanical strengths, electrical, magnetic, optical and thermal properties." — Prof. Jennifer Lewis
Metals
"In the early part of the last century, the key material of study was steel. Fracture mechanics was and is a very important and very relevant problem. A more current material of study, platinum, is in exhaust systems as part of the catalytic converter."
— Prof. John Weaver
Polymers
"Polymer means 'many parts.' If you were to actually make yourself very small and go inside a polymer, you would see extremely long stringy strands. That's what makes a polymer so different from a liquid like water." — Prof. Paul Braun
Electronic Materials
"Without electronic materials, we wouldn't have our computers. Integrated circuits are grown onto silicon wafers; 12-inch wafers are worth $50,000 to $100,000."
— Prof. John Weaver
Computational Materials
"Computational materials science is about coming up with models, theories, and using the computer to simulate complex phenomena." — Prof. Duane Johnson