Graduate Program Overview

About the Program

The Materials Science and Engineering graduate program focuses on understanding the structure, modification and properties of materials and the development of new or improved processing methods. Consistent with the multi-disciplinary nature of the field, a substantial number of our graduate students majored in fields other than materials science, and the department has a significant number of associated graduate faculty from other departments supervising thesis and dissertation research.

Degree Programs

The Materials Science and Engineering Department offers degree programs leading to non-thesis and thesis Masters degrees and the Doctorate (PhD) degree. MS and PhD candidates undertake thesis research in faculty research programs as an integral part of their degree requirements.

• Master of Materials Science and Engineering (MMSE)

  Requires 30 total credit hours. There are no core course requirements and no final oral exam is required. This program is appropriate for the distance-education Masters degree.

• Master of Science (MS)

  Requires 30 total credit hours: 15 credit hours will be from MSE graduate-level (500 and above) courses, 9 credit hours will be from non-MSE graduate-level courses, and 6 credit hours will be MSE 695 Thesis Research. A final oral thesis defense exam and submission of an approved MS thesis is required.

• Doctorate Degree (PhD)

  Requires 72 total credit hours. Students must pass a qualifying exam and an oral comprehensive preliminary exam. A final doctoral oral exam and submission of an approved PhD dissertation is required.

Technology, Education and Commercialization Program (TEC)

The TEC Program involves teams of engineering and business students who learn to identify and commercialize new technologies. Materials engineering graduate students team with business students from the College of Management to learn about technology transfer and marketability. The team spends 12 months working through four phases of technology transfer - identifying marketable technologies, evaluating the potential products and markets, developing a business plan, and developing a commercialization strategy. For more information on the TEC program, please contact Roger Debo at roger_debo@ncsu.edu.