Happy 120th Anniversary
As the head of the School of Materials Engineering at Purdue, I am very pleased to celebrate the College of Engineering’s 120th birthday. I am proud of MSE’s role in making the College one of the most outstanding in the world. I would like to highlight some exciting things happening in our School.
In 2019, we celebrated our 60th anniversary as a stand-alone school; for those of you who graduated more than 10 years ago, the School of Materials Engineering that you remember from your time on campus is vastly different today. It used to be that the 10 faculty in MSE taught and did research on both kinds of materials -- metals AND ceramics. While we are still highly driven by hands-on learning, the more than 30 faculty members in MSE today address materials that have expanded well beyond the metallurgy emphasis you might recall. We have dramatically added teaching and research in polymers, composites, electronic materials, biomaterials, and energetic materials, and we have active research partnerships with each of the other 12 schools and divisions under the Purdue College of Engineering umbrella.
For our students, this translates into the opportunity for each of them to write their own story. With the breadth of the MSE degree, there is no typical trajectory after leaving campus. The diverse degree offers students and alumni the ability to easily transition between various industries. What remains constant, however, is the dedication to ensuring our students get outstanding opportunities to learn and discover new materials and technologies that improve our lives.
I hope you enjoy the podcast and that it provides a glimpse into where we are now, as well as a sense of how we continue to emphasize that “you can’t make it without materials.”
“Sounds like the Future”
David Bahr
Head and Professor
School of Materials Engineering
Purdue University