Bachelor of Materials Science and Engineering
Energy and sustainability
From materials for solar panels to new composites for wind energy to radiation-resistant materials for longer-lasting and safer nuclear reactors, Materials Scientists and Engineers develop the materials upon which new energy technologies are built. Steel and concrete production are two of the most societally important, yet also most energy-consumptive manufacturing technologies in the world. As a result, even small breakthroughs in materials processing can have an outsized effect on the world’s energy portfolio, as well as enabling longer lifetimes for existing and future clean energy sources.
Advanced and sustainable manufacturing
Materials Scientists and Engineers design materials and manufacturing processes that form the backbone of our modern civilization and the other technical disciplines. They have the flexibility to work in nearly any industry, anywhere. Developments in fields such as lightweight materials for aeronautics, construction materials, semiconductor devices and fabrication, paint and coatings, pharmaceutical processing, medicine, and sustainable polymer manufacturing enable advancements across science and engineering disciplines. They tackle problems to improve efficiency, save on costs, and curb waste and pollution to benefit society.
Biomaterials and medicine
The human body is an amalgamation of materials under extreme conditions. High stresses and corrosive environments, coupled with the need for biocompatibility make Biomaterials and Medicine one of the most exciting, multidisciplinary, and growing areas of MSE. Medical devices can be implanted in the body, as in the case of hip and knee replacements, structural support for healing bones and vascular stents, or can be used in everyday medical equipment such as syringes, plungers, pumps, personal protective gear, and electronic monitors and devices. Understanding materials such as living bone, collagen, elastin, and fibrin, and how they regenerate and interact with medical treatments, is paramount to developing new therapies. Materials Scientists and Engineers work alongside Biomedical, Chemical, and Mechanical Engineers, Biologists, and Medical Professionals to improve healthcare for all individuals.
Data driven design and discovery
Computationally-driven Materials Science and Engineering is ubiquitous in the field, helping to understand the fundamental chemistry and physics behind MSE. Large experimental datasets in excess of many terabytes from beamlines, and other high-throughput datasets can be analyzed via machine learning and data mining techniques. New theories that dictate the link between material structure, properties, processing, and performance are often tested computationally in tandem with experiments to accelerate the discovery process. Predictive models aid in the design of new engineering components and devices and accelerate the time from development to market. Performance-based models and simulations determine lifetime and maintenance intervals of components ranging from consumer electronics to jet aircraft, to medical devices and nuclear reactors.
