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The Future of Materials Undergraduate Programs: Can we Avoid Extinction?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Linda Vanasupa*
Affiliation:
lvanasup@calpoly.edu, California Polytechnic State University, Materials Engineering, 1 Grand Ave., San Luis Obispo, CA, 93407, United States, 805-756-1537, 805-756-2299
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Abstract

In materials research, the current funding focus has shifted from largely mechanical-properties based aspects of materials to their molecular-level chemical nature, such as biomaterials or nanoscale phenomenon. Along with this shift in emphasis, we have seen many undergraduate materials programs become absorbed by other programs as a concentration in other engineering majors. Many programs have absolved departments in favor of a model where faculty from a variety of departments have adjunct appointments in, say, an interdisciplinary materials science and engineering program. What exactly is the fate of undergraduate materials programs? Is it time for materials science and engineering undergraduate programs to be absorbed into the sea of interdisciplinarity? In this talk, I will present data on the landscape of trends within the undergraduate materials community against the changes in the global arena. What is our role as materials science and engineering educators in the societal state of flux that we face? What are the opportunities? In an attempt to see into the future, we will consider all these questions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

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