Views on a Comprehensive Materials Science and Engineering Education Program
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Views on a Comprehensive Materials Science and Engineering Education Program GJ. Abbaschian and P.H. Holloway Educational programs in materials science and engineering (MSE) departments must be comprehensive, addressing the m a i n t h e m e of s t r u c t u r e - p r o p e r t y processing-application relationships in all materials. In addition, the programs must be dynamic in order to improve materials according to the requirements of our society. Dynamic materials limits and societal needs require the materials field to change constantly over relatively short times. In this respect, education in MSE differs substantially from that in traditional departments such as chemistry, physics, mechanical and chemical engineering, and even the more narrow fields of metallurgical, ceramics and polymer engineering. It may be argued that all departments, scientific or engineering, are dynamic because they are constantly changing and m a t u r i n g . Obviously, t h o u g h , departments close to maturity change less rapidly than young departments. MSE, a young department, is changing rapidly from both steady evolutionary g r o w t h as well as quantum changes in scope (e.g., electronic materials). In fact, advances in MSE have necessitated a redefinition of scope for other fields. A good example is the field of computers and communication, which is directly tied to the growth, processing, and characterization of high purity semiconductor materials. The opposite is true as well (e.g., high transition temperature superconducting materials). The old adage of "a good design will be limited by the materials available" is true. As such, MSE plays a dual role — simultaneously advancing and impeding progress in other areas of science and engineering. Because of the rapid growth of MSE in the last two decades, the term "materials science a n d e n g i n e e r i n g " has acquired many different meanings to those involved in the materials field. In fact, since materials may limit progress in all areas of science a n d e n g i n e e r i n g , p e r s o n s in p h y s i c s , chemistry, mechanical engineering, etc., may work on materials and therefore state that they are materials scientists. Thus the question—is MSE a field or a discipline? Before addressing the subject of comprehensive education in MSE, it is necessary to discuss the mission and goals of MSE and to delineate the differences (and/or similarities) in educational philosophy of this department in comparison to others.
A field is defined as "an area or division of activity," as contrasted with discipline which is "a field of study, a subject that is taught." Based on these definitions, materials is a field, while MSE is a discipline — a discipline which teaches the links between structure-properties-processing and application of diverse materials in order to make them useful to mankind. While other departments include faculty members who are concerned with materials research and even education, none address the aforementioned complicated and intricate structure-properties-p
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