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Faculty for the program are drawn from the departments of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, mathematics and statistics, physics, and chemistry. The faculty are committed to educating the students on the properties and applications of materials and to carry out advanced and stimulating research in these areas.

The program is multidisciplinary because it is involved with the physical, mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties of materials—mostly solids. It is multidisciplinary also in that it combines the theoretical and experimental capabilities of a variety of disciplines and applies them to the solution of complex scientific and engineering problems.

The research programs pursued in materials science have two areas of specialization: electronic materials and bio-polymeric materials.

Specific research topics include:

• Dynamics of quantum systems with application to nanomaterials
• Electronic properties of graphene
• Synthesis and characterization of electronic materials
• Thin films and microfabrication for use in electronic devices and integrated circuits
• Electron and X-ray diffraction characterization of electronic and magnetic materials
• Experimental and theoretical analysis of musculoskeletal structures
• Biofluid mechanics and transport processes
• Optimization of mechanical properties of structural materials
• Polymers and composites
• Nanostructures
• Strongly correlated electron systems
• Spin-polarized electrons and magnetic phenomena in organic semiconductors
• Spin-polarized electrons and magnetism in nanomaterials and quantum systems
• Mesoporous structures and layered materials
• Micro-electro-mechanical systems

Many of the faculty in the Materials Science Program have developed individual laboratories to conduct their chosen research. The participating departments also maintain sophisticated characterization facilities.