Nanomaterials MS
Major: Nanomaterials
Degree Awarded: Master of Science in Nanomateriials (MS)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 45.0
Co-op Option: Available for full-time, on-campus master's-level students
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 15.1601
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 17-2199
About the Program
Note - this program is currently not accepting students.
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) provides an excellent opportunity for students to gain an advanced understanding of nanomaterials in this Master of Science degree program. Students attend classes and carry out research within faculty research groups to solve problems related to energy, health, and other applications using novel approaches in the area of nanomaterials. The program is designed to expand interdisciplinary knowledge and integrate critical thinking and research within the student's academic experience.
Additional Information
For more information, visit the MS in Nanomaterials webpage.
Admission Requirements
Application Deadlines
- US Students
- Jun. 1 (Fall Term)
- Oct. 15 (Winter Term)
- Jan. 15 (Spring Term)
- International Students:
- June 1 (Fall Term only)
- Consideration for a term other than fall requires special permission from the academic department prior to application.
Applications are accepted at any time.
Requirements
For details regarding the items below please review the Admission Application Instructions.
- Graduate Admission Application
- Applicants may only apply to one program.
- All documents submitted by you or on your behalf in support of this application for admission to Drexel University become the property of the University, and will under no circumstances be released to you or any other party.
- An application fee of $65 USD is required.
- Transcripts
- Provide official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended.
- International students: If you have already graduated from your previous institution at the time of your application, please email your graduation certificate(s) attached as PDF or Microsoft Word documents to enroll@drexel.edu.
Degree Requirements
| Core Courses | ||
| Select 15.0 credits from the list below. Other graduate courses related to Nanomaterials or Nanotechnology can be counted as Core Courses if approved by the graduate advisor. Any 500 or 600 level course from the following departments with approval from Nanomaterials graduate advisor: CHEM, PHYS, BIO, SCTS, ENSS, ENVS, FASH, ENTP, CS, CI, DSCI, MATE, CAEE, ECE, MEM, CHE, EGMT, BMES. | 15.0 | |
| Nanoscale Fields | ||
| Introduction to Materials Engineering | ||
| Thermodynamics of Solids | ||
| Introduction to Solid State Materials | ||
| Experimental Technique in Materials | ||
| Nanostructured Carbon Materials | ||
| Fundamentals of Nanomanufacturing | ||
| Nanoscience | ||
| Academic Track: The remaining credits are completed within an academic track. Choose one of the below two options (Nanobiomaterials or Nanomaterials for Energy) or create a track (Emerging Applications of Nanomaterials) with approval of graduate advisor. Any 500 or 600 level course from the following departments with approval from Nanomaterials graduate advisor: CHEM, PHYS, BIO, SCTS, ENSS, ENVS, FASH, ENTP, CS, CI, DSCI, MATE, CAEE, ECE, MEM, CHE, EGMT, BMES. | 21.0-23.0 | |
| Nanobiomaterials Track * | ||
| Biochemistry I | ||
| Nano and Molecular Mechanics of Biological Materials | ||
| Tissue Engineering I | ||
| Tissue Engineering II | ||
| Biomaterials I | ||
| Biomaterials II | ||
| Structure and Properties of Polymers | ||
| Nanostructured Polymeric Materials | ||
| Biomedical Materials I | ||
| Research | ||
| Nanomaterials for Energy Track | ||
| Quantum Chemistry Of Molecules I | ||
| Topics in Analytical Chemistry | ||
| Electrochemical Engineering | ||
| Nanoelectronics | ||
| Nanomaterials and Nanoengineering | ||
| Kinetics | ||
| Nuclear Fuel Cycle & Materials | ||
| Nanostructured Polymeric Materials | ||
| Ceramics | ||
| Materials for High Temperature and Energy | ||
| Materials for Energy Storage | ||
| Research | ||
| Emerging Applications of Nanomaterials Track: Students may create a track focused on emerging interdisciplinary topic in nanomaterials. The track must be approved by the graduate advisor. In keeping with the interdisciplinary nature of the MS degree, the track must contain courses from at least two different departments. Any 500 or 600 level course from the following departments with approval from Nanomaterials graduate advisor: CHEM, PHYS, BIO, SCTS, ENSS, ENVS, FASH, ENTP, CS, CI, DSCI, MATE, CAEE, ECE, MEM, CHE, EGMT, BMES. | ||
| Research | ||
| Research credits can be applied to any track (up to 12.0 credits) | ||
| Thesis or Non-Thesis Option ** | 9.0 | |
| Thesis | ||
| Master's Thesis | ||
| Non-Thesis | ||
Choose 9.0 credits from courses listed in the academic tracks above with advisor approval. | ||
| Optional Co-op Experience *** | 0-1 | |
| Career Management and Professional Development for Master's Degree Students | ||
| Total Credits | 45.0-48.0 | |
- *
Students selecting the Nanobiomaterials track will complete 45.0-47.0 credits.
- **
Master's Thesis students take MATE 898 [WI] for 9.0 credits while Non-Thesis Master's students select 9.0 credits from courses listed within each concentration. Additionally, Non-Thesis Master's students may request approval from the graduate advisor to take special topics courses.
- ***
Co-op is an option for this degree for full-time on-campus students. To prepare for the 6-month co-op experience, students will complete: COOP 500. The total credits required for this degree with the co-op experience is 46.0
Students not participating in the co-op experience will need 45.0 credits to graduate.
Writing-Intensive Course Requirements
In order to graduate, all students must pass three writing-intensive courses after their freshman year. Two writing-intensive courses must be in a student's major. The third can be in any discipline. Students are advised to take one writing-intensive class each year, beginning with the sophomore year, and to avoid “clustering” these courses near the end of their matriculation. Transfer students need to meet with an academic advisor to review the number of writing-intensive courses required to graduate.
A "WI" next to a course in this catalog may indicate that this course can fulfill a writing-intensive requirement. For the most up-to-date list of writing-intensive courses being offered, students should check the Writing Intensive Course List at the University Writing Program. Students scheduling their courses can also conduct a search for courses with the attribute "WI" to bring up a list of all writing-intensive courses available that term.
Sample Plan of Study
Nanomaterials for Energy Track (Thesis Option)
| First Year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Winter | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| ET 681 | 3.0 | CHEM 555 | 3.0 | MATE 507 | 3.0 |
| Core Courses | 6.0 | Core Courses | 6.0 | MATE 572 | 3.0 |
| MATE 582 | 3.0 | ||||
| 9 | 9 | 9 | |||
| Second Year | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Winter | Credits | ||
| ECEE 821 | 3.0 | MATE 544 | 3.0 | ||
| MATE 898* | 3.0 | MATE 898* | 6.0 | ||
| Core Course | 3.0 | ||||
| 9 | 9 | ||||
| Total Credits 45 | |||||
Nanobiomaterials Track (Thesis Option)
| First Year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Winter | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| BMES 660 | 4.0 | BMES 661 | 4.0 | BMES 541 | 3.0 |
| Core Courses | 6.0 | MATE 661 | 3.0 | MATE 544 | 3.0 |
| Core Course | 3.0 | MATE 898 | 3.0 | ||
| 10 | 10 | 9 | |||
| Second Year | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Winter | Credits | ||
| BIO 500 | 3.0 | MATE 898* | 3.0 | ||
| MATE 501 | 3.0 | Core Courses | 6.0 | ||
| MATE 898* | 3.0 | ||||
| 9 | 9 | ||||
| Total Credits 47 | |||||
NANO CO-OP Option
| First Year | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Winter | Credits | Spring | Credits | Summer | Credits |
| COOP 500 | 1.0 | Core Courses | 6.0 | Core Course | 3.0 | Academic Track | 9.0 |
| Core Courses | 6.0 | Academic Track | 3.0 | Academic Track | 6.0 | ||
| Academic Track | 3.0 | ||||||
| 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | ||||
| Second Year | |||||||
| Fall | Credits | Winter | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| COOP EXPERIENCE | COOP EXPERIENCE | Academic Track | 9.0 | ||||
| 0 | 0 | 9 | |||||
| Total Credits 46 | |||||||
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
Upon completion of the program, graduates will be prepared to:
- 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.