Chris Schuh: DMSE, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering here at MIT, is the academic home where we educate tomorrow's leaders in
how to make solid matter. We are builders; we are equal parts scientists and engineers.
We study how to move atoms around, how to assemble them into unique structures to evoke interesting properties, and
we learn those scientific tools, so that we know how to make things, so that we can engineer solid matter.
Some of the key areas in the Department include research on energy.
Caroline Ross: We have a lot of energy research going on, battery development and so forth. We have a lot of work on
electronic materials, optics, photonics, magnetics. We have work in biological materials,
including tissue engineering.
And the exciting development is
Professor Fink's work on optical fibers, where he's developed fibers that can transmit light
and can also be used as sensors and in medical applications, so you can actually treat some tumors or
perform surgery by shining radiation down a fiber and using that to treat the illness.
Gene Fitzgerald: In my laboratory at MIT in the Materials Science and Engineering Department,
we explore new kinds of semiconductor materials in order to build devices and integrated circuits that will have an impact on society.
We've already had
some previous success with strained silicon, which is in your microprocessor that you have today in your laptop.
What we're doing is trying to build even more advanced combination materials and demonstrate integrated circuits that
really would take the semiconductor industry in a whole new direction.
Jeff Grossman: Hands-on learning is at the heart of how we believe materials science and engineering should be taught.
The discipline of materials science and engineering is the discipline where the connections happen; it's where the chemists, the physicists,
the mathematicians, the biologists want to work with engineers and where the engineers want to work with them; and it all comes together in this discipline,
which I think is what's needed in order to make an impact in materials.
Chris Schuh: The curriculum in DMSE is centered on the principle that education should be hands-on.
From the moment when students declare their major is materials science and engineering, we put them in the laboratory
and we make them use their hands. From day one,
they're learning how to operate microscopes, how to measure fundamental properties of materials, and how to build using materials.
Our lectures are intended as supplements to the hands-on education and through their entire
curriculum as undergraduates, the focus is really on the laboratory work.
We have labs in the department that cover all of the areas of materials. There's a blacksmithing lab,
there's a glass blowing lab, there's a foundry.
Caroline Ross: We think it's important for students to actually be able to process
metals and this gives them the chance to pour metals and shape metals,
And it's really one of those things that you can't learn out of a book. We actually make a set of of cast
medallions every year which we give to the graduating class, and the undergrads and grad students participate in making those medallions.
So that's a nice memento of their time in the department.
Chris Schuh: DMSE is proud to have a suite of laboratory facilities that are located right here on the Infinite Corridor,
which is the backbone of MIT.
This fosters a lot of interactions with our peers, a lot of collaborations,
and it gives our students excellent exposure at the center of the heart of the Institute.
Jeff Grossman: I think the physical space at MIT is very important. As students and other faculty pass by, they see
what's happening inside of these labs ,they see students actively taking part in experiments, and it fosters a sense of
interdisciplinary
interactions and collaborations in DMSE.
Chris Schuh: We are beginning to explore the use of online tools as a way to enhance our own students' educational opportunities.
For example in the coming year, we're hoping to launch what we call the Semester From Anywhere.
Gene Fitzgerald: The Semester From Anywhere is being implemented by putting three classes online
that are undergraduate electives here in the Materials Science Department and
once those are online, then it gives a student complete flexibility to pursue any
project they want to do outside of MIT and still be able to take those three classes which help them stay on their
degree program schedule.
The experience they pursue doesn't have to be about materials science; they could work in a company
and get experience there anywhere in the world.
Caroline Ross: I think MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering is a great place to study this subject because we have a big department,
we cover a lot of ground in the area of materials science and engineering.
We have a very
integrated program for the graduate and undergraduate students
so the undergrads are involved in research through their internships and their
projects, and they work very closely with the faculty so we think it's a great place to learn about materials science and engineering
because of the opportunities of
combining
education with hands-on research.
Chris Schuh: Materials science and engineering is a central and important part of MIT as a whole.
This is because materials are frequently the most limiting aspect of frontier technologies
They also are often controlling when it comes to societal issues, like the environment or energy, so materials really
occupies an important central part of the mission of MIT as a whole.