Program Description
The Graduate Material Science (GMS) program leads to the degree of Master of Science (Material Science). The program is under the joint supervision of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Structural Materials) and the Department of Engineering Physics (Non-structural Materials) and is carried out in cooperation with the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory.
The goal of the GMS program is to provide a student who has a background in engineering or physical science with the knowledge of materials science and engineering necessary for work in the fields of structural and non-structural materials for aerospace systems. Such positions may range from those requiring very detailed and advanced level work in a specific discipline to those involving broad responsibilities and requiring interaction among many disciplines.
The GMS program prepares students for a range of Air Force positions. It demands that the students develop a detailed understanding in specialty areas while ensuring that they are also well educated across all areas of materials science and engineering.
The specific goals of the GMS program are to produce graduates with:
- A solid background in the fundamental areas of material science and engineering (structural and non-structural materials, thermodynamics and kinetics, materials characterization, and materials selection and processing).
- An in-depth knowledge in one specialty area.
- Experience in conducting and documenting an independent investigation, a thesis, on a problem of Air Force interest.
Curriculum
Students normally enter as a class in September and are scheduled to graduate in March after 18 months. The GMS program is normally six quarters in length. The equivalents of five quarters of study are devoted to course work and one quarter of study to thesis research. The program provides preparation in thermodynamics and kinetics of materials, mechanical, electronic and optical properties of materials, material characterization, material selection and processing, and mathematics. Also, each student is required to take an in-depth study and perform research either in structural materials (metallic, composite, polymer, ceramics etc.) or non-structural materials (electronics, optical, magnetic, dielectric, coating etc.) Emphasis is placed on the application of fundamental knowledge to the design, development, test and evaluation of materials for Air Force systems.
The GMS curriculum is built around five principal elements:
- Basic Materials Core
- Mathematics
- Specialty Sequence
- Thesis
- Elective Courses