Undergraduate MSE Program Goals and Outcomes

The Materials field encompasses the science and engineering of almost everything we see and touch, generating a marvelous array of career opportunities and tracks for Materials graduates. Indeed, fewer than one in ten practicing engineers and scientists working in the Materials field has a formal Materials education, diffusing clear definition of the field. In fact, Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) is a discipline in its own right, the study of structure-properties-processing interactions and their relation to performance across all classes of materials. Other disciplines provide only fragments of this approach; their full integration defines MSE. The School of Materials Engineering at Purdue provides just such a general MSE undergraduate program.

A. The School will:

  1. Provide an education that optimally serves the School's constituencies: the students and their parents, the MSE faculty, other programs at Purdue, alumni, employers, graduate programs, and the State of Indiana.
  2. Delineate and promote MSE as a distinct discipline while providing insight into ways MSE and related disciplines complement each other in practice.
  3. Encourage and promote active participation in groups and societies that enhance the profession, the university, the community, and humanity.
  4. Provide information on the full range of Materials career tracks and help students discover and develop both potential career interests and personal interests in nontechnical areas.
  5. Provide a focus on scientific principles and engineering practices that cut across the encompass all classes of materials, through a full integration of the (general MSE) structure-properties-processing approach.
  6. Develop a balanced perspective between development of new materials and the application (specification) of existing materials.
  7. Provide opportunities for concentrated studies in Materials sub-disciplines or related specialties.
  8. Provide unique opportunities for concentration in a general materials processing stem.

B. The students will:

  1. Develop the problem-solving skills necessary to define individual components of engineering problems, and the design skills necessary to integrate those components into system solutions.
  2. Become expert in the fundamental concepts of the science and engineering of materials.
  3. Become familiar with the range and use of technical, professional, and strategic informational resources available outside of the classroom.
  4. Develop engineering judgment, particularly the ability to critically assess data, statistics, and other inputs, as well as the capabilities and limitations of computational modeling, software tools, and analytical math analysis.
  5. Become competent in experimental research and development technique, both in individual and team settings.
  6. Develop a high level of skill in professional communication, both written and oral.
  7. Be aware of major current challenges facing engineers, their historical context, and potentials for future developments and ramifications.
  8. Develop the habits of a life-long learner: acquiring, testing and utilizing new information in every aspect of life.