Program in Materials Science and Engineering
Student Affairs: Engineering Building 2, Room 153
http://matsci.ucsd.edu
All courses, faculty listings, and curricular and degree requirements described herein are subject to change or deletion without notice.
Materials science and engineering is concerned with the structure, properties, and applications of materials. The university-wide Program in Materials Science and Engineering (MATS) at UC San Diego aims to provide fundamental knowledge in the understanding of materials with the objective of predicting, modifying, and tailoring the properties of materials to yield enhanced material performance.
The foundations of materials science are the basic sciences of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering principles. The interdisciplinary nature of the program at UC San Diego is ideally suited to address this requirement. The graduate students in the Program in Materials Science and Engineering benefit from the unique and broad combination of faculty members and research facilities existing at UC San Diego in the Jacobs School of Engineering, the School of Physical Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the School of Medicine, and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Particular emphases within the program include a study of microstructure-property relationships; design of electronic, superconducting, magnetic, and nanomaterials for electronic and high-tech device and energy applications; optical and chemical materials for telecommunications and display applications; biomaterials and medical device materials for biotech applications; experimental investigation and theoretical modeling of the mechanical behavior of materials; and advanced composite materials for civil structures.
The Graduate Program
The Program in Materials Science and Engineering at UC San Diego is interdisciplinary, with participation of faculty members from the Jacobs School of Engineering, the School of Physical Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the School of Medicine, and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Undergraduate preparation for pursuing the MS and PhD in materials science and engineering at UC San Diego would normally include a degree in materials science, or in engineering or physical sciences, such as physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and related disciplines. Students are expected to have an adequate mathematics, physics, chemistry, and related basic sciences background.
Curriculum
The Program in Materials Science and Engineering has developed thrust areas that benefit the preparation of our master’s students for careers in industry by focusing their expertise, and the preparation of our doctoral students for their research endeavors that can lead to their dissertation. These areas provide a wide horizon of study and are not meant to limit the future choice of a thesis or dissertation topic, nor are they inflexible. Apart from the core courses, the courses listed with each thrust area on the program’s website are suggestions. With approval from the student's faculty adviser, students are free to choose any graduate engineering or science course, even if they are not listed in the thrust area. To view the courses associated with each thrust area, please visit https://matsci.ucsd.edu/graduate-studies.
The five thrust areas are:
Thrust 1: Biomaterials, Soft Robotics, and Biomedical Devices
Soft matter, cell-material interaction, health monitoring and wearables, bioelectronics and soft robotics. Engineered living materials, drug delivery, and dynamic biomaterials. The human body is prone to malfunction, accident-related mechanical failure, and disease. Biomaterials are synthetic polymers, metals, or ceramics that correct, repair, or supplement body functions. In this thrust area, students will learn how to design biomaterials that interact with tissue in a biocompatible way. A significant focus is on how to develop devices for health monitoring and to create a new generation of microarchitected and engineered living materials that take over body function, including robotic systems, to provide signals to surrounding cells and induce sensing and self-healing capabilities.
Thrust 2: Computational and Data Driven Design
Theoretical, computational, and data-driven materials design. Accelerated and automated materials discovery. Discovering and designing tomorrow’s materials is increasingly becoming a digital effort. State-of-the-art computational tools combined with artificial intelligence dramatically widen the accessible parameter space while minimizing trial-and-error experimentation. In this thrust area, students will gain hands-on expertise in computer models that span length scales from atomistic, molecular, microstructural to component level (“atoms-to-airplanes”), while at the same time combining data science with experimental validation to create entirely new structures, properties, and functionalities.
Thrust 3: Extreme Properties and Environments
Advanced structural and functional materials; sensor materials and devices. Materials for hypersonic aviation, sustainable aerospace concepts, disaster management. Tomorrow’s technologies hinge on novel materials that can withstand extreme conditions experienced during nuclear fusion, space exploration, hypersonic travel, or advanced defense systems. These environments require ultra-high strength, low weight, radiation and impact resistant materials with unprecedented reliability and durability. In this thrust area, students will leverage modern concepts of (quantum and applied) mechanics, materials dynamics, and scale-dependent behavior to design new architected and composite materials and stretch the limits of existing high performance systems and devices.
Thrust 4: Quantum, Electronic, and Photonic Materials
Electronic, magnetic, phononic, and photonic materials; atomic-to-bulk scale synthesis, fabrication; imaging, characterization, spectroscopy, microscopy; microelectronic processing and integration; quantum information and sensing, and non-conventional computing. Today’s digital world depends on advanced semiconductor and quantum devices to enable communication, data storage, and decision-making. In this thrust area, students will explore new processing techniques crucial for tailoring materials with atomic precision and CMOS devices with ever shrinking dimensions. Future designs must rely on simulating, understanding, and exploiting advanced quantum effects, giving birth to new microarchitected metamaterials, advanced electronic devices, and efficient photonic devices.
Thrust 5: Sustainability and Energy
Materials designs inspired from nature; CO2-neutral synthesis and processing; energy materials, eco-friendly and circular materials processing concepts. The planet’s resources are finite. Paving the path to a waste-free “circular economy” with minimal environmental impact is an urgent ecological, economic, and ethical responsibility for humankind. Science can guide decisions that eliminate adverse eco-impact by selecting low emission materials and processes and by making materials biodegradable or fully recyclable. In this thrust area, students will explore novel solutions for solar cells, batteries, and fuel cells, and optimize the life cycle of energy materials and devices.
Master’s Degree Program
The master’s program is intended to extend and broaden an undergraduate background and/or equip practicing engineers with fundamental knowledge in the field of materials science and engineering. The degree may be terminal or obtained on the way to the doctoral degree. The master’s degree is offered under both the Thesis Plan I and the Comprehensive Examination Plan II.
MS Time Limit Policy: Full-time master’s students are permitted seven quarters in which to complete all requirements. While there are no written time limits for part-time students, the department has the right to intervene and set individual deadlines if it becomes necessary.
Master’s Plan I—Thesis Defense
This plan of study involves both course work and research, culminating in the preparation of a thesis. A total of thirty-six units of credit is required. The student’s master’s program is arranged with prior approval of their MATS faculty adviser.
Students must maintain at least a B average (3.00 GPA) in the courses taken to fulfill the degree requirements. All required courses for a degree must be taken for a letter grade with the exception of MATS 299 research units, which are taken as S/U only. A thesis based on the research is written and subsequently reviewed by the student’s MATS faculty adviser and two other members of the faculty appointed by the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs. The review is normally an oral defense of the thesis.
The thesis committee must adhere to the requirements outlined in the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs doctoral and master’s committee’s web page.
Master’s Plan II—Comprehensive Examination
This plan of study involves course work only and includes specific comprehensive examination components. A total of thirty-six units of credit (nine courses) are required. Students must maintain at least a B average (3.00 GPA) in the courses taken to fulfill the degree requirements. All required courses for a degree must be taken for a letter grade. For information regarding the comprehensive examination, please visit the program website at http://matsci.ucsd.edu.
Change of Degree: Upon completion of the requirements for the master’s degree, students admitted as MS only or MS candidates are not automatically eligible for admission to the doctoral program. MS only candidates who subsequently wish to pursue a doctorate must review this opportunity with their MATS faculty adviser (a faculty adviser is required to be eligible for MS to PhD transfer).
Questions about change of degree aim (MS to PhD) requests should be sent to: mats-advising@ucsd.edu.
The PhD Program
The MATS doctoral program is intended to prepare students for a variety of careers in research and teaching. Therefore, depending on the student’s background and ability, research is initiated as soon as possible. Students are required to complete the master’s program, including successfully defending a master’s thesis or passing the comprehensive examination (or meet equivalent requirements to the master’s program) to be admitted to or continue in the doctoral program.
All students, in consultation with their MATS faculty adviser, must develop a course plan that will prepare them for the MATS qualifying examination (Senate exam) and for their dissertation research. The doctoral program of study and research must be planned to meet the time limits established to advance to doctoral candidacy and to complete the requirements for the doctoral degree. Details can be found in the Program in Materials Science and Engineering website.
Doctoral Examinations: A MATS doctoral student is required to pass three examinations. The first is the comprehensive exam which is scheduled during the spring quarter of the first year. PhD students must obtain a passing grade of 70 percent. This exam may only be retaken once before the end of the second year of study. The second exam is the qualifying examination (Senate exam), which is intended to determine the candidate’s ability to successfully pursue a research project at a level appropriate for the doctorate. This exam must be taken within the first six quarters of registration as a graduate student. The Senate exam is an oral examination by a committee of four persons (two of which must be affiliated with the Program in Materials Science and Engineering) and is based on material taught over thirty-six units of course work as described in the program website. Students should work with their faculty adviser and their committee members to identify suitable courses that will prepare them to make meaningful research contributions. The course plan must be approved by the faculty adviser and the committee members.
Obtaining an MS: Doctoral students may obtain the master’s degree by completing the thirty-six units of course work requirements described on the MATS website and by passing the MATS comprehensive exam, as long as they do not already hold an MS degree from another institution.
The Senate exam: In preparation for the Senate exam, students must have obtained a faculty research adviser, have identified a topic for their dissertation research, and have made initial progress on the research. At the time of application for advancement to candidacy, a doctoral committee, responsible for the remainder of the student’s graduate program, is appointed by the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs . The doctoral committee conducts the Senate exam, during which the student must demonstrate the ability to engage in dissertation research. This involves the presentation of a plan for the dissertation research project. The doctoral committee may ask questions directly or indirectly related to the project and general questions that it determines to be relevant. Upon successful completion of this examination, students are advanced to candidacy.
The dissertation defense is the final doctoral examination. Upon completion of the dissertation research project, the student writes a dissertation that must be successfully defended in an oral examination and public presentation in the presence of the doctoral committee. A complete copy of the student’s dissertation must be submitted to each member of the doctoral committee approximately four weeks before the defense. It is understood that the copy of the dissertation given to doctoral committee members will not be the final copy, and that the doctoral committee members may suggest changes in the text at the time of the defense. This examination may not be conducted earlier than three quarters after the date of advancement to doctoral candidacy. Acceptance of the dissertation by the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs and the university librarian represents the final step in completion of all requirements for the PhD.
PhD Time Limit Policy: Precandidacy status is limited to four years. Doctoral students are eligible for university support for six years. The defense and submission of the doctoral dissertation must be within seven years.
Evaluations: In the spring quarter of each year, faculty advisers evaluate each doctoral student’s overall performance in course work, research during the past academic year, and prospects for financial support for the next year. A written assessment is given to the student. If a student’s work is found to be inadequate, the faculty adviser may determine that the student cannot continue in the doctoral program and will recommend dismissal to the dean of the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs.