Materials Science and Engineering PhD

Major: Materials Science and Engineering
Degree Awarded: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 90.0 
Co-op Option: None
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 14.1801
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 17-2131

About the Program

The PhD program in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) aims to provide an education which encompasses both the breadth and depth of the most recent knowledge base in the materials science and engineering field in a format suitable for individuals seeking careers in academia and/or industry.

In addition, the program provides students with in-depth research training through their thesis project.

The graduate student body reflects a broad spectrum of undergraduate backgrounds. Because of the expansion into interdisciplinary areas, qualified physical and biological sciences graduates, and graduates from other engineering disciplines may also join the program. Students without a degree in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) are required to take MATE 503  Introduction to Materials Engineering.

Career Opportunities

PhD program graduates go on to careers in engineering firms, consulting firms, law firms, private industry, business, research laboratories, academia, and national laboratories. Materials scientists and engineers find employment in such organizations as Hewlett-Packard, Intel, 3M, Global Foundries, Chemours, Lockheed-Martin, Johnson and Johnson, Merck, AstraZeneca, Arkema, W. L. Gore, Army Research Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Air Products, Micron, and Corning.

Additional Information

For more information visit the Materials Science and Engineering PhD program and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering webpage.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must meet the graduate requirements for admission to Drexel University. The graduate student body reflects a broad spectrum of undergraduate backgrounds. Because of the expansion into interdisciplinary areas, qualified non-MSE engineering, physical, and biological science graduates may also join the program.

For specific information on how to apply to this program, visit Drexel University's Materials Science and Engineering Graduate Admissions webpage.

Degree Requirements

Curriculum

A student must have at least the required 90.0 quarter credits for the PhD degree. An MS degree is not a prerequisite for the PhD degree, but can count for 45.0 quarter credits if the courses are approved by the graduate advisor. For students without an MS degree, but with previous graduate coursework, they may transfer no more than 15.0 credits (equivalent to 12.0 semester credits) from approved institutions provided they follow the rules and regulations described in the Materials Requirements of Graduate Degrees. 

 The required 90.0 credits for a PhD degree are tabulated below:

• Required core courses: 6.0 credits
• Additional required courses: 7.0 credits (MATE 504 &  MATE 536 [1.0 credit for first 6 terms])
• Selected core courses: 12.0 credits
• Optional courses: 9.0 credits
• Research or additional option courses: 47.0 credits
• Dissertation: 9.0 credits (MATE 998)
  Total: 90.0 credits

Program Requirements

 

Students must successfully pass degree-required exams including final dissertation defense and submission of the final dissertation.

*

PhD students must achieve a minimum "B-" grade in each of the required core courses. Waiver of any of the six (6) core courses must be approved by the MSE Department graduate advisor and the student's thesis advisor in advance.

**

 MATE 536 is a 1.0 credit course that must be repeated 6 times. 

An introductory course, MATE 503, is required for students without an undergraduate materials science and engineering degree.

Additional courses are encouraged for students entering the department with an MS degree. Students choose a doctoral thesis topic after consultation with the faculty.  Students are required to consider topics early in the program. An oral thesis presentation and defense are scheduled at the completion of the thesis work.

In addition to the graduate seminar, which is required of all graduate students, doctoral program students must pass an oral candidacy examination and a thesis proposal defense. The exam is designed to improve and assess the communication skills and the analytical abilities of the student. The following procedures should be followed to complete the PhD.

Candidacy Exam Requirement

All MSE PhD students are required to take the PhD Candidacy Examinations administered by the MSE Department.

Additional Information

For more information, visit the Department of Materials Science and Engineering webpage.

Sample Plan of Study

 

At least 90.0 credits are required for the PhD degree, which is based on the completion of a dissertation. Typical PhD students complete between 144.0-216.0 credits in the course of their PhD studies.

Facilities

Nanobiomaterials and Cell Engineering Laboratory
This laboratory contains a fume hood with vacuum/gas dual manifold, vacuum pump and rotary evaporator for general organic/polymer synthesis; gel electrophoresis and electroblotting for protein characterization; bath sonicator, glass homogenizer and mini-extruder for nanoparticle preparation; centrifuge; ultrapure water conditioning system; precision balance; pH meter and shaker.

Ceramics Processing Laboratory
This laboratory contains a photo-resist spinner, impedance analyzer, Zeta potential meter, spectrafluorometer, piezoelectric d33 meter, wire-bonder, and laser displacement meter.

Layered Solids Laboratory
This laboratory contains a vacuum hot-press; creep testers, Ar-atmosphere glove-box, high-speed saw, and assorted high temperature furnaces; metallographic preparation facilities; high temperature closed-loop servo-hydraulic testing machines.

Mechanical Testing Laboratory
This laboratory contains mechanical and closed-loop servo-hydraulic testing machines, hardness testers, Charpy and Izod impact testers, equipment for fatigue testing, metallographic preparation facilities and a rolling mill with twin 6" diameter rolls.

Macromolecular Materials Laboratory
This laboratory contains a hybrid rheometer, inert environment glove box, size exclusion chromatography with multi-angle laser light scattering, HPLC and RI detector & MALS, centrifuge, rotovapor, and vacuum oven used for developing innovative synthetic platforms to generate functional soft materials with complex macromolecular architectures.

Mesoscale Materials Laboratory
This laboratory contains instrumentation for growth, characterization, device fabrication, and design and simulation of electronic, dielectric, ferroelectric and photonic materials. Resources include physical and chemical vapor deposition and thermal and plasma processing of thin films, including oxides and metals, and semiconductor nanowire growth. Facilities include pulsed laser deposition, atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), sublimation growth, and resistive thermal evaporation.  Variable-temperature high-vacuum probe station and optical cryostats including high magnetic field, fixed and tunable-wavelength laser sources, several monochromators for luminescence and Raman scattering spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy with electron beam lithography, and a scanning probe microscope.

Nanomaterials Laboratory
This laboratory contains instrumentation for synthesizing, testing and manipulation of nanomaterials carbon and two dimensional carbides under microscope, high-temperature autoclaves, Sievert’s apparatus; glove-boxes; high-temperature vacuum and other furnaces for the synthesis of nano-carbon coatings and nanotubes; tube furnaces for synthesis of carbides and nitrides; potentiostat/galvanostat for electrochemical testings; ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) spectrophotometry; Raman spectrometers; Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) up to 1500 °C with mass spectrometer, Zeta potential analyzer; attrition mill, bath and probe sonicators, centrifuges; electro-spinning system for producing nano-fibers.

Functional Inorganic Materials Synthesis Laboratory
The laboratory contains equipment for the synthesis of inorganic and hybrid materials, including gas cabinets for NH₃ and H₂, a CVD furnace, and spin-coater; UV-Vis spectrophotometer; and a photodegradation test station with Xe 1000 W lamp.   

Films and Heterostructures Laboratory
This laboratory contains an oxide molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) thin film deposition system; physical properties measurement system (PPMS) for electronic transport and magnetometry measurements from 2 to 400 K, up to 9 T fields; 2 tube furnaces; spectroscopic ellipsometer.

Powder Processing Laboratory
This laboratory contains vee blenders, ball-mills, sieve shaker + sieves for powder classification, several furnaces. 

Soft Matter Research and Polymer Processing Laboratories
These laboratories contain computerized thermal analysis facilities including differential scanning calorimeters (DSC), dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) and thermo-gravimetric analyzer (TGA); tabletop tensile tester; strip biaxial tensile tester; vacuum evaporator; spin coater; centrifuge; optical microscope with hot stage; liquid crystal tester; microbalance; ultrasonic cleaner; laser holographic fabrication system; polymer injection molder and single screw extruder.

Natural Polymers and Photonics Laboratory
This laboratory contains a high purity liquid chromatography (HPLC) system; refractometer; electro-spinning and touch-spinning systems for producing nanofibers.

X-ray Tomography Laboratory
This laboratory contains a high resolution X-ray micro-tomography instrument and a cluster of computers for 3D microstructure reconstruction; mechanical stage, a positioning stage and a cryostage for in-situ testing.

MSE Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory
Contains an FTIR spectrometer, metallographic sample preparation, equipment, polymer 3D printers, polymer extruder and injection molder, Vickers hardness tester, inverted metallograph, multiple  furnaces.

Materials Characterization Core (MCC)
The Department of Materials Science & Engineering relies on the Materials Characterization Core facilities within the University for materials characterization and micro- and nano-fabrication. These facilities contain a number of state-of-the-art materials characterization instruments, including high resolution and variable pressure field-emission scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) for elemental analysis, Orientation Image Microscopy (OIM) for texture analysis, various in-situ and in-operando stages (cryo mat, heating, tensile, 3- and 4-point bending, and electrochemistry); two Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEMs) with STEM capability and TEM sample preparation equipment; a dual-beam focused ion beam (FIB) system for nano-characterization and nano fabrication; a Nanoindenter; an X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS)/Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA) system; X-Ray Diffractometers (XRD); and an X-ray microscope (NanoCT) with an in-situ tensile/compression temperature controlled stage.

More details of these instruments, information on how to access them, and instrument usage rates can be found at Drexel University’s Materials Characterization Core webpage.

Program Level Outcomes

• Materials Science and Engineering program graduates possess the core technical competencies in their field necessary to successfully interface with other engineering disciplines in the workplace.
• Materials Science and Engineering program graduates are leaders in their chosen fields.
• Materials Science and Engineering program graduates are engaged in lifelong learning.
• Materials Science and Engineering program graduates possess written and verbal communication skills appropriate for professional materials engineers and/or scientists. 

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty

Emeritus Faculty