Materials science and engineering graduate core courses in the United States
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MATERIAL MATTERS
Materials science and engineering graduate core courses in the United States OPINION
By Parag Banerjee and Robert M. Briber
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in-depth understanding of the interplay of structure and properties across a range of materials systems. The goal of this article is to provide a current “state of the core courses” in MS&E graduate programs in the United States. We note that surveys of top European universities were also conducted. It was found that in European universities where curriculum information was posted online, graduate students were not required to take a set of core courses. In universities in Asia, core courses are an integral part of the MS&E graduate curriculum, but these vary in number, content, and style from university to university. Our survey is based on information from 28 MS&E graduate program websites at US universities. According to the University Materials Council membership roster,2 there are currently 113 MS&E departments in the United States, not all of which may have a graduate program. Another caveat to note is that the trends described and conclusions provided herein are only as 8 good as the quality of data provided on 6 these departmental web pages. The primary con4 clusion of this study is that, on average, a typical MS&E pro2 gram at a US university consists of 0 five core courses. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 These courses are Number of Core Courses spread across three Figure 1. Histogram of the number of core courses offered by broad categories: US universities in Materials Science and Engineering (MS&E) (1) structure–propgraduate programs. Data were obtained from the MS&E departerty–characterizamental web pages of 28 US universities in 2016. tion of materials,
Number of US Universities
he academic bedrock of a materials science and engineering (MS&E) PhD program is a curriculum consisting of a set of core courses. Graduate students are required to take these core courses, followed by electives—courses that are closely related to their topic of research. The rationale for following a core + elective courses structure in a graduate program comes from the early years of MS&E as it emerged from metallurgy dealing only with metals to an interdisciplinary program with equal footing in metals, ceramics, and polymers. Educators stressed the need to focus on common, fundamental concepts that thread various materials together, rather than to study materials as siloed systems.1 Thus, courses dealing with fundamental structure–property relationships in materials, such as solid-state physics, defects, thermodynamics, and kinetics, emerged as core courses. Students could gain an
(2) thermodynamics and kinetics, and (3) emerging areas in MS&E. There is wide variability in the interpretation and breadth of knowledge covered in these courses. This format of core courses is dated and is at least two decades old. It is perhaps time to engage in a national dialogue discussing the purpose and design of a core curriculum in MS&E, specifically in light of our improved understanding of emergi
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