Materials Science and Engineering Program
Student Affairs: Engineering Building 2, Room 470, Warren College
World Wide Web: http://matsci.ucsd.edu
Professors
Courses
Materials Science and Engineering Program is concerned with the study
of the structure and properties of materials. The Materials Science
and Engineering Program at UCSD aims to provide fundamental knowledge
for quantitative understanding of materials with the objective of predicting,
modifying, and tailoring the properties of materials to yield, at the
technology level, enhanced material performance. The foundations of
materials science are the basic sciences of physics, chemistry, and
mathematics. The great variety of materials response, at the optical,
magnetic, electrical, mechanical, and chemical levels, requires a solid
scientific foundation and breadth of basic knowledge from the materials
scientists. The interdisciplinary nature of the program at UCSD is ideally
suited to address this requirement. The graduate of the Materials Science
and Engineering Program benefits from unique research facilities existing
at UCSD. These include the resources in the Departments of MAE, SE,
ECE, Physics, Chemistry/Biochemistry, Bioengineering, and SIO, as well
as in the Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials and the Center
for Magnetic Recording Research. Of particular emphasis within the program
is the experimental investigation and theoretical modeling of the mechanical
response and failure models of advanced materials at ultrahigh strain
rates; electronic, superconducting, magnetic, and optical properties
of materials for advanced applications; biomaterials; and advanced composite
materials for civil structures.
The Graduate Program
The Materials Science and Engineering Program is interdisciplinary,
with participation of faculty members from several departments. Faculty
from the following departments participate in the Materials Science
and Engineering Graduate Program: the Departments of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering (MAE), Structural Engineering (SE), Bioengineering,
Physics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), Electrical and Computer
Engineering (ECE), and Chemistry. The governance of the program is carried
out by the executive committee of the program. The executive committee
coordinates all affairs of the Materials Science and Engineering Program,
including student admissions, degree requirements, graduate courses
in materials science given by various participating departments, maintenance
of laboratory instructional facilities, seminars, special courses, part-time
instructors, and related matters.
Undergraduate preparation for the materials science and engineering
M.S. and Ph.D. normally would include a degree in materials science
and in engineering or physical sciences, such as physics, chemistry,
geology, and related disciplines. Students are expected to have an adequate
mathematics, physics, chemistry, and related basic sciences background.
Masters Degree Program
The program offers the M.S. degree in materials science and engineering
under both the Thesis Plan I and the Comprehensive Examination Plan
II; see Graduate Studies: Masters Degree. The requirements
for the M.S. degree are as follows:
- All students must complete a total of thirty- six units.
- All students must complete a core of the following six courses:
(1)MS 227; (2)MS 201A; (3)MS 201B; (4)MS 201C; (5)MS 205A; (6)Physics
152A.
(Physics 211A can replace 152A with advisers permission.) See
Courses for descriptions.
- Students may include up to twelve units of undergraduate courses.
These include the one undergraduate core course, Physics 152A.
- Enroll in MATS200, as required. See Courses for descriptions.
- Remaining courses to complete the thirty-six unit requirement for
the MS degree may be selected from an approved list of graduate courses
with the consent of a faculty adviser.
- Students either complete a thesis (Plan I) or pass a comprehensive
examination (Plan II) as described in the Graduate Studies
section of this catalog.
- Students must meet all other requirements established by the university.
Students who transfer with some graduate credit or an M.S. from another
institution will have their records reviewed by a faculty adviser, and
an appropriate individual course of study may be approved.
The Ph.D. Program
After completing the M.S. degree (or meeting equivalent requirements)
and meeting the minimum standard on the comprehensive examination to
be admitted to or continue in the Ph.D. program, a student must:
- Meet all the universitys residency and other requirements.
- Successfully complete three advanced graduate courses (in addition
to those required for the M.S. degree) which have been approved by the
students potential dissertation adviser.
- Enroll in MATS200, as required. See Courses for descriptions.
- Pass the Literature Review Examination. This requirement must be
successfully completed within one year after passing the Comprehensive
Examination.
- Pass the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination (Senate Exam) to be advanced
to Ph.D. candidacy.
- Successfully complete and defend a dissertation which, in the opinion
of the dissertation committee, contains original work that should
lead to publication of at least one significant article in an appropriate
refereed journal.
In principle, it should be possible to finish the M.S. degree in three
quarters, and a Ph.D. in an additional three years. Ph.D. time limits
are as follows: Pre-candidacyfour years; Support limitsix
years; Total time limitseven years; Normative time limit for a
properly prepared B.S. studentfive years. (See Graduate
Studies Ph.D. Time Limits for further explanation.)
Departmental Examination
The Comprehensive Examination
The examination will consist of twelve questions, two from each of
the six core courses. A passing grade is 60 percent for the Masters
degree, and 70 percent for the Ph.D. The examination will not exceed
six hours in duration. The examination is usually administered the second
week in January, and a week after spring quarter finals week in June.
Typically, students take the exam after one year of full-time enrollment.
This exam may only be retaken once before the end of the second year
of study.
The Literature Review Examination
The Literature Review Examination tests the students ability
to prepare and present a comprehensive overview of a topic based on
existing journal literature. It should be a comprehensive discussion
of the literature, scientific theory, problems or theoretical deficiencies,
and possible areas of research in some area of materials science and
engineering. The topic may be in the general area in which the student
plans to pursue his or her thesis research, or it may be in an unrelated
field. The topic must be approved by the three faculty member committee
in advance of the seminar. The Literature Review Examination is not
to be a discussion of the students research project or their research
proposal. A presentation which includes the students own work
which has not been published will constitute a no pass grade. This exam
must occur within one year of the student having passed the Comprehensive
Examination.
Materials Science and Engineering Program
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