What is Materials Science and Nanotechnology?
The famous talk entitled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” by renowned theoretical physicist Richard Feynman seeded the concept of nanotechnology in 1959 during an American Physical Society meeting at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), which was long before the term "nanotechnology" was used. Inspired by this talk, many researchers from various disciplines started exploring the possibility of manipulating matter on a atomic and molecular scale, which has evolved a new interdisciplinary research area called "Materials Science and Nanotechnology Engineering".
This new visionary field covers a wide range of projects from atomic-level manipulations to micro-scale device fabrications, and it's main goal is to control the structure and properties of materials in an extremely small scale (nanometer). The idea behind this approach is that the properties of materials can exhibit dramatic changes when dimensions get close to atomic levels and exceptional properties can be obtained, which otherwise would be impossible.
The field of Materials Science and Nanotechnology Engineering investigates different classes of materials such as metals, ceramics, polymers, electronic materials and biomaterials with an emphasis on elucidating structure-process-property relationships. Over the past two decades, nano-structured materials and devices impact all fields of science and engineering, including chemistry, physics, molecular biology, microelectronics, biomedical engineering, and civil engineering. The advancements realized in these fields has led to advanced materials and technologies such as smaller, faster computer chips, smart phones, new display technologies, smart nanocomposite materials, biosensors, and drug delivery systems. Today, many researchers from various disciplines are exploring a wide variety of ways to deliberately make nanostructured materials to take advantage of their enhanced properties. The future of enhancing our way of life has strong bonds with improvements in materials science and nanotechnology.
AGU Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering Graduate Program Structure
The purpose of our graduate program is to inform multidisciplinary research perspective in materials science, nanotechnology, and mechanical engineering and to educate tomorrow’s problem-solvers in light of increased competitiveness and new global challenges. Our approach in our graduate level training is to motivate students to conduct ground breaking research in materials science, nanotechnology, and mechanical engineering. Our graduate program is conducted in English. In order to graduate, candidates are required to accomplish at least 7 courses with 21 credits (if an earlier M.Sc. degree earned) or 14 courses with 42 credits (if only B.Sc. degree earned), and a seminar course. Each candidate for the Ph.D. degree must succeed in a proficiency exam and submit a thesis based on original research and/or application in related fields.
