Materials Science and Engineering
Director of Graduate Studies: Moonsub Shim
201 Materials Science and Engineering Building
1304 West Green Street
Urbana, Illinois 61801
(217) 333-1441
Fax: (217) 333-2736
E-mail: mse@illinois.edu
Major: Materials Science and Engineering
Degrees Offered: M.S., Ph.D.
Joint Degree Program: Master of Science or Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science and Engineering and the Master of Business Administration
Degrees Offered: M.S. and M.B.A. or Ph.D. and M.B.A.
Medical Scholars Program: Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Materials Science and Engineering and Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) through the Medical Scholars Program
Graduate Degree Programs
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MatSE) offers graduate study leading to master's and doctoral degrees. The department is consistently ranked in the top three programs in the nation (undergraduate and graduate) by U.S. News and World Report. It offers opportunities to specialize in ceramics, electronic materials, metals, polymers, biomaterials, and/or computational materials science, with strong research programs in all of the areas. Opportunity also exists for specializing in (i) computational science and engineering and (ii) energy and sustainability engineering within the department's graduate programs via the Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) Option and the Energy and Sustainability Engineering (EaSE) Option. The Medical Scholars Program permits highly qualified students to integrate the study of medicine with study for a graduate degree in a second discipline, including Materials Science and Engineering.
Admission
Students with bachelor's or master's degrees in the natural sciences or engineering will be considered for admission if they have a grade point average of at least 3.00 (A = 4.00) for the last two years of undergraduate study. The general test of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is required. Admission is possible for the spring semester, but most admissions are for the fall semester. Full details of admission requirements are on the department's graduate admissions Web site.
All applicants whose native language is not English must submit a minimum TOEFL score of 103 (iBT), 257 (CBT), or 613 (PBT); or minimum International English Language Testing System (IELTS) academic exam scores of 7.0 overall and 6.0 in all subsections. Applicants may be exempt from the TOEFL if certain criteria are met. Full admission status is granted for those taking the TOEFL or IELTS since the scores required for admission to MatSE are above the minimum scores demonstrating an acceptable level of English language proficiency.
Applicants to the joint M.B.A. degree program must meet the admissions standards for both programs and be accepted by both programs.
Students may apply to the Medical Scholars Program prior to beginning graduate school or while in the graduate program. Applicants to the Medical Scholars Program must meet the admissions standards for and be accepted into both MatSE and the College of Medicine. An application to the Medical Scholars Program will also serve as the application to the MatSE graduate program. Further information on this program is available by contacting the Medical Scholars Program (125 Medical Sciences Building, 217-333-8146, mspo@illinois.edu).
Degree Requirements
*For additional details and requirements, please refer to the department's Graduate Degree Requirements Handbook and the Graduate College Handbook.
Master of Science
Requirements |
Thesis Option |
Non-thesis Option |
|---|---|---|
| Credit Hours | Hours | Hours |
| Total Credit for the Degree | 32 | 36 |
| Thesis Research – MSE 599 (min-max applied toward the degree) | 8 | n/a |
| Course Work | 24 | 36 |
| MSE 492 (1 hour); credit does not apply toward the degree | 0 | 0 |
| MSE 595 | 0-2 | 0-2 |
| Advisor group meetings (MSE 590) and area seminars (MSE 529, MSE 559) (subject to Other Requirements and Conditions below) | 0-2 | 0-2 |
| Elective courses – chosen in consultation with advisor (subject to Other Requirements and Conditions below) | 20-24 | 32-36 |
| Other Requirements and Conditions (may overlap):* | ||
| A minimum of 8 hours of MSE course work. | ||
| A minimum of 12 500-level credit hours overall applied toward the degree. | ||
| MSE 595 (0 or 1 hour) must be taken every semester in the first two years of residence. A maximum of 2 hours may be applied toward the degree. | ||
A maximum of 2 hours of MSE 529, MSE 559, MSE 590 in combination may be applied toward the degree: |
||
| The minimum program GPA is 3.0. | ||
| The completed masters thesis must be approved by the advisor and the department head. | ||
| Generally, students on a research assistantship will not be allowed in the non-thesis option. | ||
Doctor of Philosophy
Requirements |
Entering with approved M.S. degree |
Entering with approved B.S. degree* |
|---|---|---|
| Credit Hours: | Hours | Hours |
| Total Credit for the Degree | 64 | 96 |
| Thesis Research – MSE 599 (min-max applied toward the degree) | 44 | 52 |
| Course Work | 20 | 44 |
| One of CHEM 544, MSE 500, PHYS 504 with a grade of B or higher | 4 | 4 |
| MSE 492 (credit does not apply toward the degree) | 0 | 0 |
| MSE 595 | 0-2 | 0-4 |
| Advisor group meetings (MSE 590) and area seminars (MSE 529, MSE 559) (subject to Other Requirements and Conditions below) | 0-2 | 0-4 |
| Advisor group meetings (MSE 590) and area seminars (MSE 529, MSE 559) (subject to Other Requirements and Conditions below) | 0-2 | 0-4 |
| Elective courses (subject to Other Requirements and Conditions below) | 12-16 | 32-40 |
| Other Requirements and Conditions (may overlap):* | ||
| MSE course work hours | 8 | 16 |
| 500-level credit hours applied toward the degree | 8 | 20 |
| MSE 595 (0 or 1 hour) must be taken every semester in the first two years of residence. A maximum of 2 hours (if entering with an M. S. degree) or 4 hours (if entering with a B. S. degree) may be applied toward the degree. | ||
| A maximum of 2 hours (if entering with an M. S. degree) or 4 hours (if entering with a B. S. degree) of MSE 529, MSE 559, MSE 590 in combination may be applied toward the degree: Ceramics area majors take MSE 529 for the first 4 semesters Polymer and Biomaterials area majors take MSE 559 every semester Other area majors may take MSE 590 |
||
| The minimum program GPA is 3.0. | ||
| Ph.D. exam and dissertation requirements: Qualifying exam Preliminary exam Final exam or dissertation defense Dissertation deposit |
||
1. These students may earn a Master of Science degree during the Ph.D. program.
Joint Degree Program
The joint M.B.A. program requires completion of the M.S. or Ph.D. degree requirements as prescribed above, plus 60 graduate hours for the M.B.A. degree, including 40 hours of M.B.A. core course work; and 20 hours of M.B.A. elective course work to fulfill the requirements of a concentration.
Medical Scholars Program
Students in the Medical Scholars program must meet the specific requirements for both the medical and graduate degrees. On average, students take eight years to complete both degrees The first year of the combined program is typically spent meeting requirements of the Materials Science and Engineering graduate degree.
Faculty Research Interests
The backgrounds of faculty members vary widely within the broad areas of ceramics, electronic materials, metals, polymers, biomaterials, and computational materials science. In addition, research collaborations with other faculty outside the department are frequent. For a detailed list of faculty research interests and publications, view the MatSE department's faculty biographies.
Facilities and Resources
The MatSE department has an outstanding array of facilities available for materials research. These facilities, in addition to laboratories in the department's buildings, include, among others, the Materials Research Laboratory, Center for Microanalysis of Materials, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, and Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory. The National Center for Supercomputing Applications and the MRL Center for Computation are readily available. Information about these facilities may be found at the MatSE department's facilities information Web site.
Financial Aid
Financial aid is available in the form of research assistantships, teaching assistantships, and partial fellowships. All applicants, regardless of U.S. citizenship, whose native language is not English and who wish to be considered for teaching assistantships must demonstrate spoken English language proficiency by achieving a minimum score of 50 on the Test of Spoken English (TSE), 24 on the speaking subsection of the TOEFL iBT, or 8 on the speaking subsection of the IELTS. For students who are unable to take the TSE, iBT, or IELTS, a minimum score of 50 is required on the SPEAK test, offered on campus. All new teaching assistants are required to participate in the Graduate Academy for College Teaching conducted prior to the start of the semester.