Materials engineering (MSE) influences our lives each time we buy or use a new device, machine, or structure. Materials engineers apply their understanding of metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, biomaterials and electronic materials to design products ranging from cellular phones to aircraft and from antibacterial coatings to biomedical implants. MSE graduates work across nearly every technology and every industry, including nanotechnology, the aerospace applications of materials, and producers of materials (e.g. ArcelorMittal, Timken, ALCOA, GE Plastics, Corning, 3M etc.). MSEs also work as designers of new devices and engineering products (e.g. Ford, Intel, Applied Materials, IBM, Zimmer and DePuy Orthopedics, Johnson & Johnson, W. L. Gore, etc.) and with companies that solve major engineering challenges (e.g. Halliburton, Schlumberger, ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron). Because of its breadth, the MSE degree also prepares graduates well for careers as lawyers, doctors, pharmaceutical researchers—even as managers of diverse teams of engineers and scientists.**
Points of Pride:
- Small undergraduate classes (usually fewer than 40 students), allowing students to receive individual attention from the program’s 20 faculty members
- High student participation in cooperative education, summer internships, and study abroad
- Hands-on labs every year in the program, using state-of-the-art equipment in the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering. Senior design experience consists of a full-year project sponsored by and coordinated with industrial sponsors.
- One-on-one undergraduate research opportunities (more than 25% of students participate)