Doctoral Degree
Doctoral Degree (PhD) in Material Science and Engineering
The graduate program in materials science and engineering at Rutgers offers a doctoral degree in all areas and classes of materials. The core curriculum covers the key topics in materials: thermodynamics; kinetics; solid state theory; mechanical properties. In addition to these classes, there are many elective courses in characterization of materials and advanced technological applications of materials.
PhD Degree Requirements
The PhD requires 36 credits of academic courses and 36 research credits. A written doctoral thesis is required. The PhD degree is usually done on a full time basis and requires four to five years.
Completing the PhD is a multi-step process that requires the candidate to pass a qualifying exam after a year of studying. After the qualifying exam a thesis proposal is given by the candidate to their PhD thesis committee, typically after two years of study. The PhD culminates with a written doctoral thesis and the candidate doing a defense of their research to an audience of faculty and students. This is followed by a closed question and answer session with the PhD thesis committee.
For a PhD the student must:
- Have a research advisor who is a member of the MSE program’s Graduate Faculty
- Have a research project relevant to the MSE graduate program
- Take a total of 36 research credits
- Take a total of 36 taught credits
- Pass a PhD qualifying exam on the core courses after year one
- Write and present a PhD thesis proposal (usually at the end of the second year)
- Write a PhD thesis and defend their research in front of peers and a thesis committee
The PhD takes 4 to 5 years with a combination of taught and research credits being taken each year.
Example First Year
Core courses (most students will take these):
635:527 Thermodynamics of Materials Systems (3 credits)
635:513 Mechanical Behavior of Materials (3 credits)
635:503 Theory of Solid State Materials (3 credits)
635:532 Kinetics of Materials Systems (3 credits)
Elective courses (students typically take 2 or 3 of these):
635:505 Advanced Optical Materials (3 credits)
635:525 Properties of Materials Surfaces (3 credits)
635:529 Applied Colloid and Surface Chemistry (3 credits)
635:566 Electron Microscopy (3 credits)
635:567 Electron Microscopy Lab (1 credit)
635:601 Materials Seminar (1 credit)*
635:701 Research in Materials (1 to 6 credits)
635:506 Advanced Glass (3 credits)
635:509 Advanced Electroceramics (3 credits)
635:516 Molecular Behavior or Glasses (3 credits)
635:524 Advanced Materials Characterization (3 credits)
635:528 Modern Electrochemistry (3 credits)
635:602 Materials Seminar (1 credit)*
635:702 Research in Materials (1 to 3 credits)
Second and Subsequent Years
Students take approximately 9 credits per semester of electives to get to a total of 36 taught credits plus 635:701 and 635:702 “Research in Materials” to reach their total of 36 research credits.