MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Materials Science and Engineering at CWRU

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) at CWRU focuses on metals, ceramics, electronic materials, and composites. There are 12 full-time faculty members, 25 undergraduates, and 30 graduate students. With typical class sizes of 10-15 students, there is ample opportunity for student-faculty interaction.

The Charles M. White Metallurgy Building houses classrooms, laboratories,and offices, an undergraduate computer facility and an undergraduate lounge, the Van Horn Library, state-of-the-art facilities for mechanical testing and electron microscopic examination of materials, and a metals foundry. The department is connected to CWRUnet, the campus-wide fiber optic computer and information network, and also maintains a MicroVAX node on the DECnet computer network for research purposes.

Academic programs and options

The department offers both a major and a minor in Materials Science and Engineering. The major program, which leads to a B.S. degree in Materials Science and Engineering, is built around the Case Core -- basic courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering, with electives in social sciences and humanities -- with additional materials core courses, technical electives, and open electives. Each materials major carries out a senior project, working closely with one of the faculty's research groups.

The Department offers several scholarships each year to students intent on pursuing a career in Materials Science and Engineering. The awards are predominantly based on academic performance, as opposed to financial need. These scholarships range from one to three thousand dollars per year. They are funded through a bequest from Kent R. Van Horn and annual awards from the Foundry Educational Society and the ALCOA Foundation.

In addition, students can apply for a variety of scholarships awarded each year from ASM International, the American Foundryman's Society, the Iron and Steel Society, and others. Scholarships are offered by both the Northeastern Ohio regional sections of these organizations and through their national headquarters.

With the help of department faculty, DMSE undergraduates often find summer or semester jobs in the field of materials, to augment their classroom learning with hands-on experience. These jobs can be off campus, either in industry or at national research laboratories, or on-campus with research groups in the department.

The cooperative education program ("co-op") at CWRU allows a student to combine an undergraduate degree with over a year of paid professional engineering experience. The co-op option at CWRU originated in the metallurgy program (the predecessor to the DMSE), and the availabilit of co-op opportunities for materials majors remains high. LTV Steel Company, NASA Glenn Research Center, SCM Glidden Metals, IBM, General Motors, and the General Electric Co. are among the firms participating in the program with our department.

Other academic options available to DMSE students include:

• 5-year B.S.-M.S. program -- in which a student takes courses both in business and engineering to obtain two degrees in five years.
• Junior Year Abroad program -- satisfying a year of course requirements at one of several universities around the world.
• Binary Program -- whereby undergraduates combine three years of education at a liberals arts school with two years of engineering at Case, giving them two degrees -- one from each institution.

Undergraduate Materials Society>>

The growth and excitement of the field of materials is reflected in the accomplishments of CWRU's award-winning Undergraduate Materials Society. All undergraduate and graduate students are members of this organization, which has an annual budget and has a representative on the Case Engineer's Council (CEC).

Run entirely by students, the UMS organizes professional development programs and social activities. The highlight of the year is the annual trip to the joint TMS-ASM Fall meeting, where over 300 students from across the U.S. participate in a Career Symposium designed specifically for students.

Recent awards received by the CWRU-UMS, competing against similar organizations throughout the country, include the TMS Chapter of Excellence and the ASM Enhancement of Technical Awareness Award.

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