We discuss how soft matter science, a new and growing area of materials science and engineering, underpins everyday cooking and haute cuisine. The goal is to use cooking to educate students about the fundamental concepts and behavior of soft materials. The benefit is that students will be able to interrelate cooking techniques and recipes to physical, chemical, and biological transformations in food.

Special topic courses in Materials Science and Engineering

The course aims to let students learn how to perform the analysis of the key kinetic processes, phase transformations, and the development of microstructure in real materials. We will study the atomic mechanisms of diffusion and the analytical and numerical methods to describe diffusion, kinetics of phase transformations and formation of complex microstructure as defined by the interplay of thermodynamics and kinetics of mass transfer. Pre-requisite: MSE 3050 or Instructor Permission

This course introduces state-of-the-art additive manufacturing techniques for metallic materials, processing considerations, unresolved challenges and future opportunities. The course focuses on the underlying mechanisms such as energy-matter interaction, solidification, melt pool characteristics, defects, as well as the impact on resulting materials properties based on the processing-structure-property relationships. Prerequisite: MSE 3070

This course examines the fundamental principles of physics, chemistry, materials science, and manufacturing which underlie the making, shaping, and fabrication of engineering components from casting and deformation processing (e.g. rolling, extrusion, forging) of metals, to powder processing of metals and ceramics, to polymer injection molding, to thin-film processing and lithography relevant to microelectronic circuit fabrication. Prerequisite: MSE 3070 or Instructor Permission

This course provides a rigorous understanding of polymers and polymeric materials from molecule to macroscopic viewpoint. Topics covered include single polymers, solutions, melts, gels, and networks. The knowledge obtained is universal to all polymeric systems across various length scales and can be applied to both synthetic and biopolymers. Thus, this course can serve as general guidance for the design and development of soft (bio) materials. Pre-requisite: MSE 3050 or CHE 3316 or MAE 2100 or instructor permission

Advanced undergraduate course on topics not normally covered in other course offerings. The topic usually reflects new developments in the materials science and engineering field. Offerings are based on student and faculty interests.

This course is the first semester of a two-semester senior capstone design experience where groups of students bring together coursework fundamentals and laboratory practice skills to develop solutions to a major engineering design problem. Students will apply principles of engineering design to generate iterative concept and design reports in written and oral form.  Co-requisite: STS 4500; Pre-requisite: APMA 3110, MSE 2101, 3050, 3060, 3070, and 3101.

A fourth-year project in MSE, under the supervision of a faculty member, is designed to give undergraduate students an application of principles learned in the classroom. The work may be experimental or computational, and the student is expected to become proficient in techniques used to process, characterize, or model materials. The project should make use of design principles in the solution of a problem. Prerequisite: Instructor permission.

Provides a fundamental understanding of the structure of crystalline and non-crystalline engineering materials from electronic to macroscopic properties. Topics include symmetry and crystallography, the reciprocal lattice and diffraction, quantum physics, bonding and band theory. Prerequisite: Instructor permission.