Graduation Plan for Materials Science & Engineering

The Undergraduate MSE Degree Program will enable the student to:

• Understand the fundamental properties and structure of materials and how they may be tailored for a specific product
• Engineer a wide variety of materials including metals, polymers, ceramics and electronic materials for the next generation of products
• Design processing and manufacturing routes for advanced technology products
• Work as a materials specialist on industrial product design teams, and select the materials based on quality and reliability.

Requirements for the Major

General and Engineering Requirements

• General Education Requirements of the University of Maryland, College Park. See the university's General Education site for course listings (Fundamental, Distributive, and I-series) and requirements. Our major requires students to take ENES200 which counts as General Education Big Question and Humanities (HU). This requirement is effective for students entering Fall 2024 and beyond. If you earned an AA degree, you are still required to complete this course. 
• Mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering courses required of all engineering students.

Specialization

• Fifteen (15) credits of courses selected within a Specialization Area. At least 4 of the 5 courses should be in materials science and engineering. The specialization area is designed to add more breadth and depth in the chosen area and should be discussed with the student’s advisor. The areas of specialization available to students are Materials Science, Soft Materials and Biomaterials, Materials for Application, and Materials for Energy. Note: The lists provided in the links for each specialization area are not exclusive; with their advisor’s approval students may take alternative classes.

Materials Science & Engineering

• The MSE curriculum includes thirty-four (34) credits of required materials engineering courses as well as twelve to fifteen (12-15) credits of materials engineering courses as specialization electives. Core courses are only offered in the semester they are listed with the exception of ENMA 300 and ENMA 460. Students are expected to take the core courses in the order given because later courses build on earlier courses. Any exceptions require explicit approval by the academic advisor.
• Two technical electives are also required  to provide enhancement of the student's abilities into broader areas, including mathematical methods, scientific/engineering analysis, or computational methods. These must be at the junior or senior level in engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics or computer science (or biology for students specializing in biomaterials). The choice of technical electives must be approved by the advisor in advance based on the student's intellectual and career goals.
• Upper level science requirement of one science course 300 level and above, in Chemistry or Physics. Students specializing in Soft Materials and Biomaterials may take CHEM 241 (Organic Chemistry 2) with the approval of their advisor or a 300 level biology course by filing an exception with the Undergraduate Program Committee.

The Interdisciplinary Minor in Nanoscale Science and Technology

The Department also administers the undergraduate Interdisciplinary Minor in Nanoscale Science and Technology.

Sample Program

Courses appearing in bold are offered by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. 

Total Four Year Credits: 122/123^{^}

*All students must complete two Distributive Studies Courses that are approved for I-series Courses. The Understanding Plural Societies (UP) and Cultural Competence (CC) Courses may also fulfill Distributive Studies categories.

**Only if you took ENEE140. If you completed ENMA165, Math206 isn't needed.

¹CHEM 231 and 232 is required for students focusing on Soft Materials and Biomaterials.

^{^}Students must earn a minimum course grade of C- in each course used to meet major degree requirements and a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 in all courses used to meet major degree requirements.