This
department offers graduate education and research programs in the structure, properties,
processing, and performance of materials. The study of materials may be pursued
according to their technical importance, as in ceramic or metallurgical engineering,
or by considering the general principles that govern their properties. At the
University of Virginia, the latter course has been adopted, leading to an understanding
of materials through the study of both macroscopic and microscopic viewpoints.
The department provides a broad-based graduate education in materials, one
component of which emphasizes the commonality among the various classes of engineering
solids. Thus thermodynamics, kinetics, structural analysis and crystallography,
defect theory, and principles of the solid state are strong features of our program.
In addition, other courses relative to the application of materials and the relationships
among materials properties, structure and the manner in which materials have been
processed are also offered.
Extensive research programs complement formal
course work. Active recent programs on environmental effects on material behavior, electronic materials, metals, polymers, tribology, composite materials, computational materials, and materials processing reflect the diversity of the faculty's research interests. The Department houses the Center for Light Metals, The Center for Electrochemical Sciences and Engineering, The NSF-MRSEC Center for the Nanoscopic Design of Materials, The MURI-Multi University Research Initiative, and the Intelligent Processing of Materials Laboratory.
The graduate program consists of regular
graduate courses and thesis research. While a few courses are considered fundamental,
there is still great flexibility in allowing a student to adapt his or her choice
of classes according to his or her particular field of interest and specialization.
Major emphasis is placed on acquisition of knowledge and development of critical
thinking skills by the student, rather than on passing a certain number of courses.
Degrees offered in materials science and engineering include the Master of Science
and the Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science and Engineering.
The
Master of Materials Science and Engineering degree is also offered to complement
the M.S. and the Ph.D. degrees because it fills a definite need not satisfied
by the traditional master’s and doctoral degrees. The course requirement
for the M.M.S.E. degree is satisfactory completion of 30 credits, compared to
24 for the M.S. degree. The M.M.S.E. does not require a research thesis.
graduate student information |
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