EDGE

Master's Degree in Materials Science & Engineering (MSMSE)

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UW Materials Science & Engineering

Materials Science and Engineering is an interdisciplinary field that addresses the scientific fundamentals of materials, their processing, and their engineering design for technological applications. It applies to basic principles of chemistry and physics in order to understand the structure of materials and how a material's structure determines its properties. Materials Science and Engineering designs scientific processes to manipulate materials to meet the needs of modern technology.

The research and academic programs unify all classes of materials: metals, ceramics, polymers, and electronic materials. The university has a strong history of interdisciplinary research. This is reflected in current collaborative research with faculty and students in fields such as Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical Engineering, as well as Physics, Chemistry and Nanotechnology.

Who Should Apply

Curriculum Overview

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering offers programs of study leading to the degree of Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering with defined options in Materials Science, Ceramic Engineering and Metallurgical Engineering. The required courses are the same for all of the above degrees. Students with deficiencies in their intended area of engineering specialization may be required to take undergraduate courses in addition to the normal graduate course requirements. There are also Engineering Materials and College of Engineering Masters of Science options.

Engineering Materials Option - Non Thesis Option

The Engineering Materials option for an MS degree in Materials Science and Engineering is a non-thesis program designed for students with substantive industrial experience who want a Master's degree to further their career goals or to meet work requirements. The non-thesis option also requires the completion of 36 credits. Students selecting this degree option should be practicing materials engineers with BS degrees. This program contains practice-oriented courses in addition to the usual graduate core courses. In place of a research-oriented thesis, students carry out a complete analysis and develop recommended solutions to an engineering materials problem. This project is industrially oriented, undertaken at an industrial site and supervised by an experienced engineer in industry and an MSE faculty member. A written and oral final project report is required.

Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering - Thesis Option

Master's degrees require a minimum of 36 credits and the satisfactory completion of a M.S. thesis research problem. Ten of the course credits must be courses on chemical kinetics, diffusion, crystal structure and imperfections, microstructure and phase transformations, and graduate seminar. Students in the Materials Science, Ceramic Engineering, and Metallurgical Engineering options must complete a research thesis as an integral part of their MS work. Students must register for a minimum of 9 credits of thesis (MSE 700). The thesis research problem is selected by the student; following identification of a faculty advisor and selection of a research topic. Thesis research should be initiated if possible in the second quarter of full time study.

Admission Requirements

Admission to graduate study in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Washington is granted by the Dean of the Graduate School upon recommendation by the departmental Graduate Admissions Committee. This committee recommends admission for those students judged best qualified to benefit from the graduate program offered by the department. The University requires that the students seeking admission have a minimum undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 (on a 4.0 basis) in the last 90 graded quarter hours or the last 60 semester hours. Exceptions are possible in special cases.

In determining the qualifications of an applicant for admission, the following factors are considered:

Course Descriptions

Specific course offerings vary from year to year. For course descriptions, see the UW course catalog, or the EDGE course plan at: www.engr.washington.edu/edge/catalog.html.

Courses available through EDGE from other departments may also be applied to the MSEE degree. Other applicable departments include Aeronautics & Astronautics, Electrical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering.

Refresher Course in Mathematics, Probability and Statistics

The EDGE program is now offering a distance learning course that is very useful to incoming engineering graduate students seeking a master's degree. The course reviews and refreshes student knowledge in the areas of mathematics, probability and statistics. For more information see Math Refresher Course.

For more information

For more information about the Materials Science and Engineering curriculum and faculty, contact:

Academic Counselor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
University of Washington
Box 352120
Seattle, WA 98195-2120
Phone: (206) 616-6581
Email: Kelkins@u.washington.edu
Web: depts.washington.edu/mse/index.htm

For more information about the EDGE Program, contact:

Education at a Distance for Growth and Excellence (UW/EDGE)
10303 Meridian Avenue North, Suite 301
Seattle, WA 98133-9483
Phone: 206-685-2242
Fax: 206-543-2352
Email: edge@engr.washington.edu
Web: www.engr.washington.edu/edge/