Sc.B. in Materials Engineering

Materials engineers create and manufacture new materials, which include semiconductors, polymers, ceramics, ferrous and non-ferrous alloys, and composite materials. Their contributions have led to breakthroughs in microelectronics, displays, energy storage, aerospace, and biomedical devices, among many other fields.

The materials engineering curriculum at Brown provides graduates with both the expertise necessary to practice their profession, as well as the interdisciplinary foundation necessary to collaborate with the engineers who will use the materials that they develop. A substantial fraction of materials engineering students at Brown participate in research, which allows them to make use of Brown's state-of-the-art facilities in microscopy, materials characterization, and materials processing.

The concentration has the following structure:

• Interdisciplinary core courses for the Sc.B., taken during the first two years 
• Seven upper level engineering courses including required courses on thermodynamics, kinetics, and mechanical properties of materials; three courses chosen from five topical materials courses (electronic materials, soft and polymeric materials, ceramics and composites, biomaterials, and metallic materials); and a capstone design project.
• An advanced science course (usually solid-state physics) 
• Four approved humanities courses 

Through their choice of upper level materials courses and through the use of electives, students have the opportunity to focus on specific areas of materials engineering that interest them. Examples of these include mechanics of materials, polymers and biomaterials, electrical properties and their applications, or materials processing. Decisions about which courses and electives to take are chosen in discussion with the materials engineering concentration advisor.