The modern world is propelled by advanced infrastructures and innovative technologies enabled by highly functional materials at multi-length scales. The minor in Materials Science and Engineering provides undergraduate students with a focused introduction to the fundamentals of structure, properties, processing, and performance of engineering materials. Through a set of courses spanning metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, and semiconductors, students learn how nanoscale and microscale structures influence macroscopic mechanical, electrical, optical, and environmental properties. This minor program complements majors across engineering and the physical sciences by imparting an inter-disciplinary mindset and strengthening a student's ability to select and design materials for real-world applications. It furthermore prepares students for careers in technology-driven and sustainably-oriented manufacturing industries, for careers that require cross-disciplinary engineering perspectives, and for advanced study in materials and materials-related fields of engineering and science.

This program equips students with a foundational understanding of how the structure, processing, and composition of materials govern their properties and performance, thus enabling students to make informed materials-related decisions in engineering and scientific applications. This minor program complements a technology-oriented major by strengthening a student's ability to select, evaluate, and apply materials effectively across diverse technologies using interdisciplinary engineering practices and innovation.

Program Outcomes
By the time of graduation, students will be able to:

• Describe and differentiate between the different major classes of engineering materials (metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, and semiconductors).

• Explain how atomic structure, microstructure, and composition influence the mechanical, thermal, electrical, and chemical properties of materials.

• Evaluate and select appropriate materials for specific engineering applications based on performance requirements, processing constraints, sustainability considerations, and cost.

• Describe basic materials-processing techniques and materials-characterization methods, and be able to relate processing and structure to properties and performance.

• Integrate materials science principles with concepts from their primary engineering discipline to analyze and solve real-world engineering problems.