Materials Science and Engineering

Faculty

L. Estroff, Director; S. Baker, N. Benedek, J. Cha, E. Donnelly, J. Dshemuchadse, E. Dufresne, K. Early, E. Giannelis, M. Hassani, J. Hwang, D. Jena, M. Murtagh, H. Nair, C. Ober, R. Robinson, D. Schlom, A. Singer, J. Suntivich, M. Thompson, C. Umbach, R.B. van Dover, K. Van Vliet, K. Wagner, C. Watson, U. B. Wiesner, H. Xing, Y. Zhong

Materials Science and Engineering:

Offered by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Contact: 210 Bard Hall, (607) 255-9159, www.mse.cornell.edu

The Materials Science and Engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, www.abet.org.

Prospective majors are required to take ENGRD 2610 or ENGRD 2620 before affiliating with the major. It is highly recommended that the course be taken as an engineering distribution during the sophomore year.

The major program develops a comprehensive understanding of the physics and chemistry underlying the unique properties of modern engineering materials and processes.

Students complete a series of electives to develop knowledge of materials, such as biomaterials, metals, ceramics, polymers, and semiconductors. Application-related courses are grouped into the areas of biotechnology and life science, energy and environment, materials for information science, nanotechnology, and technology management and ethics. These requirements are satisfied through a series of technical electives taken mainly in the senior year, which are selected from various engineering and science departments. Optional research involvement courses provide undergraduates with the opportunity to work with faculty members and their research groups on current projects. Students must complete a minimum of 126 total credit hours to graduate.

The major requirements for a B.S. degree in materials science and engineering are:

1.

ENGRD 2610 - Mechanical Properties of Materials: From Nanodevices to Superstructures (crosslisted) or
ENGRD 2620 - Electronic Materials for the Information Age (crosslisted)

2. 13 required major courses:

MSE 2060 - Atomic and Molecular Structure of Matter (crosslisted)
MSE 2610 - Mechanical Properties of Materials: From Nanodevices to Superstructures (crosslisted) or
MSE 2620 - Electronic Materials for the Information Age (crosslisted) (whichever was not taken as a distribution course)
MSE 3010 - Materials Chemistry
MSE 3030 - Thermodynamics of Condensed Systems
MSE 3040 - Kinetics, Diffusion, and Phase Transformations
One of the following:
MSE 3050 - [Electronic, Magnetic, and Dielectric Properties of Materials]
MSE 4020 - Mechanical Properties of Materials, Processing, and Design (crosslisted)
MSE 3070 - Materials Design Concepts I
MSE 3110 - Junior Laboratory I
MSE 3120 - Junior Laboratory II
MSE 4030 - Senior Materials Laboratory I or
MSE 4050 - Senior Experimental Thesis I and
MSE 4060 - Senior Experimental Thesis II
MSE 4070 - Materials Design Concepts II

3.

Two materials-related electives covering two groups of different materials

4.

Four application-related electives in at least two different types of applications

5.

Two of the application-related electives must be taken from outside MSE

6.

One additional technical elective outside MSE

Materials Science and Engineering Honors Program:

The B.S. degree with honors is granted to engineering students who satisfy the requirements given on the “Undergraduate Study and Graduation Requirements ” page as well as the following requirements.

The 9 credits (giving a total of 134) of additional courses must be technical in nature, i.e., in engineering, math, chemistry, and physics at the 4000 and graduate level, with selected courses at the 3000-level. The courses must be approved by the major advisor.
Senior thesis (MSE 4050 /MSE 4060 ) with a grade of at least A-.