The Emerging Undergraduate Curricula in Materials Science and Engineering

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. 31-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.L. Liedl
Keyword(s):  
Materials Science ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Educational Approach ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Materials Science And Engineering ◽  
Future Education ◽  
Basic Philosophy ◽  
Past Half

Much attention has again been brought to the question of undergraduate education for the “materials” field. The present reawakening relates to the release last fall of the report by the National Research Council's Committee on Materials Science and Engineering. This far-ranging study, popularly known as the MS&E Study, revealed the vitality, opportunities, challenges, and needs in materials science and engineering for the future. Education was one area that received much attention in this study because it is the enabling aspect for the field: no educated, trained personnel — no progress.When one considers the breadth of materials science and engineering, the problem of designing a unique undergraduate program becomes a major hurdle. The diversity of the field is, on one hand, a major asset in addressing problems but, on the other, a major obstacle to unifying an educational approach. This problem is not new since we have faced it over time as information and knowledge expands. However, the problem becomes magnified as the time frame for the doubling of information decreases. The explosion of information over the past half-century has drastically altered our outlook on materials, and the educational programs have been evolving with the changes. We are now at one of those crossroads where revolution versus evolution becomes a factor, i.e., the need to change basic philosophy and/or approach becomes the issue. If one doesn't consider a breakdown of the current materials classes into subgroups, then a reunification approach becomes not only desirable but absolutely necessary.

EDITORIAL: Migration and competitiveness: Japan and the United States

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-124
Author(s):  
Philip L. Martin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Variable Cost ◽  
Fixed Cost ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Key Sectors ◽  
Past Half

Japan and the United States, the world’s largest economies for most of the past half century, have very different immigration policies. Japan is the G7 economy most closed to immigrants, while the United States is the large economy most open to immigrants. Both Japan and the United States are debating how immigrants are and can con-tribute to the competitiveness of their economies in the 21st centuries. The papers in this special issue review the employment of and impacts of immigrants in some of the key sectors of the Japanese and US economies, including agriculture, health care, science and engineering, and construction and manufacturing. For example, in Japanese agriculture migrant trainees are a fixed cost to farmers during the three years they are in Japan, while US farmers who hire mostly unauthorized migrants hire and lay off workers as needed, making labour a variable cost.

Materials Education—A Renewal

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 20-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.L. Liedl
Keyword(s):  
Materials Science ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Dominant Factor ◽  
Central Position ◽  
National Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
The Past ◽  
Materials Science And Engineering ◽  
National Economies ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

Materials have always been interwoven throughout the very fabric of man's history. The present reawakening to the value and importance of materials, however, has become a dominant factor in manufacturing, national security, international competition and trade, consumer products (quality and reliability), and even education. Other renewals of interest have occurred over the centuries, probably beginning with the formation of the first pot from clay. These renewals were associated with discoveries such as copper, iron, and the transistor. However, in the past 40 years the base for renewed interest has broadened.A true coupling of science and engineering into the field of materials was probably initiated in the 1940s and 1950s. Emphasis at that time was on metals and the “new” semiconductors, with an interest that incubated and grew to where their central position in national economies and man's daily life was recognized. In 1970 the National Academy of Sciences appointed a committee to conduct a comprehensive analysis and assessment of the field of “materials science and engineering.” The COSMAT report which resulted from that study had a dramatic impact on the field and has been a frame of reference for the past 17 years. These years have seen a virtual explosion of ideas, processes, and materials in the field.

Mathematical Modeling in Materials Science and Engineering

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-13
Author(s):  
Julian Szekely
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modeling ◽  
Systems Analysis ◽  
Solid Mechanics ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Physical Systems ◽  
The Past ◽  
Modeling Techniques ◽  
Materials Science And Engineering ◽  
The Common

During the past two decades, mathematical modeling has been gaining acceptance as a legitimate part of materials science and engineering. However, as common to all relatively new disciplines, we still lack a realistic perspective regarding the uses, limitations, and even the optimal methodologies of mathematical modeling techniques.The term “mathematical modeling” covers a broad range of activities, including molecular dynamics, other atomistic scale systems, continuum fluid and solid mechanics, deformation processing, systems analysis, input-output models, and lifecycle analyses. The common point is that we use algebraic expressions or differential equations to represent physical systems to varying degrees of approximation and then manipulate these equations, using computers, to obtain graphical output.While it is becoming an accepted fact that some kind of mathematical modeling will be needed to make most research programs complete, there is still considerable ambiguity as to what form this should take and what might be the actual usefulness of such an effort.Among the more seasoned and successful practitioners of this art, clear guidelines have emerged regarding the uses and limitations of the mathematical modeling approach. We seek to illustrate these uses through the successful modeling examples presented by some leading practitioners. Some general principles may be worth repeating as an introduction to this interesting collection of articles.

Resources Center for Materials Science Education

2000 ◽  
Vol 632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas G. Stoebe ◽  
Darcy Clark ◽  
Rustum Roy
Keyword(s):  
Web Site ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
University Of Michigan ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Current Effort ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Materials Science And Engineering ◽  
The University ◽  
Educational Modules

ABSTRACTA variety of educational resources are available in the area of materials science and engineering. These resources are widely dispersed and are often hard to find. Several efforts to collect and categorize the wide variety of educational modules, demonstrations, laboratories and texts have been launched in recent years, but none have been able to incorporate the vast majority of resources. The current effort is funded by NSF and has been collecting information from a variety of sources over the past year. It is being integrated with the Materials Education Library project that has been under way at the University of Michigan since 1997. These projects will result in a fully searchable database, published both on the world wide web and in a print catalog, with the first edition being available by summer 2000. The draft web site may be found at http://msewww.engin.umich.edu/MEL/; a permanent web site will be available by the end of 2000.

scholarly journals 5th UK–China Steel Research Forum

Metals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 738
Author(s):  
Hanshan Dong ◽  
Hongbiao Dong ◽  
Zushu Li
Keyword(s):  
Materials Science ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
The Past ◽  
Steel Research ◽  
Materials Science And Engineering ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The University

Following the past successful four events in Leicester (2010), Wuhan (2012), Oxford (2014) and Chongqing (2016), the 5th UK–China Steel Research Forum, in conjunction with the 16th Conference of Chinese Materials Association in the UK on Materials Science and Engineering, was held at the University of Birmingham, UK on 4–7 July 2018 [...]

Reframing the Sciences of the Long Eighteenth Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 58-66
Author(s):  
Giuliano Pancaldi
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Half Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
Long Eighteenth Century ◽  
Past Half

Here I survey a sample of the essays and reviews on the sciences of the long eighteenth century published in this journal since it was founded in 1969. The connecting thread is some historiographic reflections on the role that disciplines—in both the sciences we study and the fields we practice—have played in the development of the history of science over the past half century. I argue that, as far as disciplines are concerned, we now find ourselves a bit closer to a situation described in our studies of the long eighteenth century than we were fifty years ago. This should both favor our understanding of that period and, hopefully, make the historical studies that explore it more relevant to present-day developments and science policy. This essay is part of a special issue entitled “Looking Backward, Looking Forward: HSNS at 50,” edited by Erika Lorraine Milam.

Everything you've always wanted to know about what your students think they know but were afraid to ask.

2000 ◽  
Vol 632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Werwa
Keyword(s):  
Materials Science ◽  
Science Museum ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Museum Exhibit ◽  
Museum Visitors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Materials Science And Engineering ◽  
Properties Of Materials ◽  
Formal Science ◽  
Lay Public

ABSTRACTA review of the educational literature on naive concepts about principles of chemistry and physics and surveys of science museum visitors reveal that people of all ages have robust alternative notions about the nature of atoms, matter, and bonding that persist despite formal science education experiences. Some confusion arises from the profound differences in the way that scientists and the lay public use terms such as materials, metals, liquids, models, function, matter, and bonding. Many models that eloquently articulate arrangements of atoms and molecules to informed scientists are not widely understood by lay people and may promote naive notions among the public. Shifts from one type of atomic model to another and changes in size scales are particularly confusing to learners. People's abilities to describe and understand the properties of materials are largely based on tangible experiences, and much of what students learn in school does not help them interpret their encounters with materials and phenomena in everyday life. Identification of these challenges will help educators better convey the principles of materials science and engineering to students, and will be particularly beneficial in the design of the Materials MicroWorld traveling museum exhibit.

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