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Accredited by ABET
Offered by: Department of Materials Science and Engineering
214 Bard Hall, 255-9159, www.mse.cornell.edu
Program Objectives
Our undergraduate Major is based on the following educational objectives:
- Preparation: To prepare students to excel in graduate school or technical careers through a world-class, rigorous, and competitive program.
- Core Competence: To train students across the spectrum of basic and applied materials science, recognizing and exploiting common descriptions in disparate systems.
- Breadth: To train students with sufficient scientific and engineering breadth to design and create novel solutions to materials problems in engineering systems.
- Professionalism: To develop in students professional and ethical attitudes, effective communication and teamwork skills, and an ability to place science and engineering issues and solutions within the broader societal context.
- Learning Environment: To provide students with an academic environment committed to excellence and innovation that contributes to developing leadership, professionalism, and life-long learning for students’ professional careers.
Common Curriculum Recommendations
| CHEM 211 | Chemistry for the Applied Sciences |
Engineering Distributions| ENGRD 261 | Mechanical Properties of Materials: From Nanodevices to Superstructures |
| ENGRD 262 | Electronic Materials for the Information Age |
Either course (ENGRD 261 or 262) satisfies the major entry requirement.
Other Relevant Engineering Distributions| ENGRD 202 | Mechanics of Solids |
| ENGRD 252 | The Physics of Life |
| ENGRD 260 | Principles of Biological Engineering |
| ENGRD 210 | Introduction to Circuits for Electrical and Computer Engineers |
| ENGRD 264 | Computer-Instrumentation Design |
| ENGRD 241 | Engineering Computation |
| ENGRD 219 | Mass and Energy Balances |
Required Major Courses| MS&E 261 | Mechanical Properties of Materials: From Nanodevices to Superstructures (required unless used to affiliate) |
| MS&E 262 | Electronic Materials for the Information Age (unless used to affiliate) |
| MS&E 301 | Materials Chemistry |
| MS&E 306 | Atomic and Molecular Structure of Matter |
| MS&E 303 | Thermodynamics of Condensed Systems |
| MS&E 304 | Kinetics, Diffusion, and Phased Transformations |
| MS&E 305 | Electronic, Magnetic, and Dielectric Properties of Materials |
| MS&E 307 | Materials Design Concepts1 |
| MS&E 311–312 | Junior Lab I and II |
| MS&E 402 | Mechanical Properties of Materials, Processing, and Design |
| MS&E 403–404 | Senior Materials Laboratory I and II1 |
| MS&E 407 | Materials Design Concepts II |
Electives2
Two materials-related electives covering two groups of different materials
Three materials application-related electives in at least two different types of applications3
Two applications-related electives must be taken from outside MS&E3
One additional technical elective outside of MS&E4
1 Satisfies technical communications/writing requirement. Research-oriented students may replace senior lab with a senior thesis (MS&E 405/406).
2 In addition to other Major requirements, a course involving significant computational or mathematical modeling or advanced mathematics is required. This requirement is typically fulfilled by one of the engineering distribution, approved elective, or outside technical elective courses.
3 A list of approved materials-related and materials application-related courses is available in the MS&E office or on-line at www.mse.cornell.edu
4 The outside technical elective must be an upper level (200 or above) technical course and may be selected from engineering or other colleges subject to advisor approval.
Materials Science and Engineering Major Checklist
| Min. Credit Hours | v When Done |
| MATH 191 | 4 | ? |
| MATH 192 | 4 | ? |
| MATH 293 | 4 | ? |
| MATH 294 | 4 | ? |
| CHEM 211 (207 or 215) | 4 | ? |
| PHYS 112 (or 116) | 4 | ? |
| PHYS 213 (or 217) | 4 | ? |
| PHYS 214 (or 218) | 4 | ? |
| COM S 100 | 4 | ? |
| Intro. to Engr.: (ENGRI 1XX) | 3 | ? |
| Engr. Dist. 1: ENGRD 261 OR 262 | 3 | ? |
| Engr. Dist. 2: ENGRD 2XX# | 3 | ? |
| First Year Writing Seminar 1† | 3 | ? |
| First Year Writing Seminar 2 | 3 | ? |
| Liberal Studies Distribution—6 courses (18-credit minimum)‡ |
|
|
| Lib. Studies 1 |
| ? |
| Lib. Studies 2 |
| ? |
| Lib. Studies 3 |
| ? |
| Lib. Studies 4 |
| ? |
| Lib. Studies 5 |
| ? |
| Lib. Studies 6 |
| ? |
| Approved Elective (2 courses; 6-credit minimum) |
| ? |
| Approved Elective |
| ? |
| Physical Education (2 semesters) and swim test |
| ? |
Required Major Courses (53-credit minimum)
| Min. Credit Hours | v When Done |
| MS&E 261 or MS&E 262 | 3 | ? |
| MS&E 301 | 3 | ? |
| MS&E 306 | 4 | ? |
| MS&E 303 | 4 | ? |
| MS&E 305 | 3 | ? |
| MS&E 307 | 1 | ? |
| MS&E 311 | 1 | ? |
| MS&E 312 | 3 | ? |
| MS&E 402 | 3 | ? |
| MS&E 403/405 | 2 | ? |
| MS&E 404/406 | 2 | ? |
| MS&E 407 | 3 | ? |
| Materials-related elective I | 3 | ? |
| Materials-related elective II | 3 | ? |
| Applications-related elective I§ | 3 | ? |
| Applications-related elective II | 3 | ? |
| Applications-related elective III | 3 | ? |
| Outside Technical Elective III | 3 | ? |
Total Required Credits | 128 min. |
|
| Additional Elective Courses (0 credits min., no max.) |
| ? |
| †Technical Writing Requirement |
| ? |
†In addition to the first-year writing seminars, a technical writing course must be taken as an engineering distribution, liberal studies, approved elective, or major course. (MS&E 403/404 and the senior thesis option satisfy this requirement.)
‡The six courses must be chosen from at least three of the following six groups: (1) Cultural Analysis (CA), (2) Historical Analysis (HA), (3) Literature and the Arts (LA), (4) Knowledge, Cognition, and Moral Reasoning (KCM), (5) Social and Behavioral Analysis (SBA), (6) Foreign Languages (not literature courses). At least two of the six courses must be at 200-level or higher.
§ 9 credits of elective courses must be taken from outside MS&E. These are satisfied by the outside technical elective and by 6 credits of the Major materials applications-related electives.
#In addition to other Major requirements, a course involving significant computational or mathematical modeling or advanced mathematics is required. This requirement is typically fulfilled by one of the engineering distribution, approved elective, or outside technical elective courses.
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