Materials Science and Engineering, Minor

The materials science and engineering minor is open to all students in the College of Engineering. The study of materials science and engineering has spurred breakthroughs in applications ranging from artificial limbs and organs, to space travel vehicles, to personal MP3 players. For example, the discovery of buckyballs and carbon nanotubes has led to the development of an unprecedented reduction in size of prototype electronic components and points the way to tomorrow’s electronic technologies. Porous nanostructures of biocompatible materials are studied for targeted drug delivery within the body. The integration of polymers and semiconductors is used to create efficient, usable solar cells to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. There are many more examples of both existing technologies and current research areas involving materials science and engineering that impact everyday life both today and in the future.

This minor is for students whose science and technical interests involve the design, processing, and optimization of engineering materials. Since the materials interests may vary across the engineering disciplines, the minor is composed of an interdisciplinary selection of courses that offer a high degree of flexibility to the student. The fundamental goals of the program are to offer the student a broad interdisciplinary program that includes a basic background in the relevant aspects of materials science and the engineering applications of materials. The objectives are to serve the needs of the chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering departments in providing a vehicle to expose students to materials science and engineering. Particular focus areas include electronic materials and processing for device applications; strength, wear, and corrosion-resistant coatings; molecular-level design of thin films and nanostructures; polymers and biomedical applications; and steels, concretes, and space-based structures.

Complete all courses listed below unless otherwise indicated. Also complete any corequisite labs, recitations, clinicals, or tools courses where specified.

Required Course

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
ME 2340	Introduction to Material Science	4

Electives

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Complete three courses from the following disciplines:		11-13
Bioengineering
BIOE 5820	Biomaterials
Chemical Engineering
CHME 5105	Materials Characterization Techniques
CHME 5160	Drug Delivery: Engineering Analysis
CHME 5631	Biomaterials Principles and Applications
CHME 5632	Advanced Topics in Biomaterials
CHME 5683	Introduction to Polymer Science
Civil and Environmental Engineering
CIVE 2260 and CIVE 2261	Materials for the Built Environment and Lab for CIVE 2260
CIVE 5275	Life Cycle Assessment of Materials, Products, and Infrastructure
Electrical and Computer Engineering
EECE 3392	Electronic Materials
EECE 5606	Micro- and Nanofabrication
EECE 5670	Sustainable Energy: Materials, Conversion, Storage, and Usage
Materials Engineering
MATL 5380	Particulate Materials Processing
MATL 6250	Soft Matter (With Instructor permission)
MATL 6270	Principles, Devices, and Materials for Energy Storage and Energy Harvesting (With Instructor permission)
MATL 6285	Structure, Properties, and Processing of Polymeric Materials (With Instructor Permission)
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
ME 4630	Ceramic Science and Engineering
ME 4640	Mechanical Behavior and Processing of Materials
ME 5600	Materials Processing and Process Selection
ME 5620	Fundamentals of Advanced Materials
ME 5640	Additive Manufacturing
ME 5645	Environmental Issues in Manufacturing and Product Use
Chemistry and Chemical Biology
CHEM 3501	Inorganic Chemistry
CHEM 5651	Materials Chemistry of Renewable Energy
Or any advisor-approved course or directed study

Capstone Design Requirement

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Complete one of the following: 1		4-5
BIOE 4792	Capstone Design 2
CHME 4703	Chemical Process Design Capstone
CIVE 4765	Senior Design Project—Environmental
CIVE 4767	Senior Design Project—Structural
CIVE 4768	Senior Design Project—Transportation
EECE 4792	Electrical and Computer Engineering Capstone 2
MEIE 4702	Capstone Design 2

GPA Requirement

2.000 GPA required in the minor

¹

Students may complete 4 semester hours of elective coursework in place of the capstone design project (if major does not have a capstone design project requirement).