Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials (1989) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
5. Manpower and Education in Materials Science and Engineering
5. Manpower and Education in Materials Science and Engineering
Pages 141-161
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 141... ...
A brief description of the number and types of personnel employed in materials science and engineering is followed by an assessment of and recommendations regarding undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education. Also briefly discussed are issues related to precollege education and to the role of professional societies in promoting the development of materials science and engineering.
|
From page 142... ...
A related development involves the current efforts of physics and chemistry departments at many major research universities to expand their faculties in materials-related areas in response to the general perception of expanding opportunities in this field. PERSONNEL IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING The rich diversity of materials science and engineering is reflected in the wide variety of educational backgrounds represented by materials science and engineering practitioners (Table 5.11.
|
From page 143... ...
committee has estimated that 30 percent of the former group and 33 percent of the latter group have specialized in materials science and engineering. Therefore, for the purposes of this analysis, 21,800 materials physicists and 61,000 materials chemists can be considered to have been working in the field of materials science and engineering in 1986.
|
From page 144... ...
For instance, engineers who design electronic devices or are involved in aspects of their assembly regularly confront complex materials fabrication problems. However, a relatively small proportion of such groups is involved daily; most of the individuals are using the fruits of, rather than contributing to, materials science and engineering.
|
From page 145... ...
The flat enrollment picture may, in addition, mean that some materials-designated engineering departments are not capitalizing on the growth and expansion of the field.
|
From page 146... ...
For the purposes of this analysis, the committee chose to distinguish between subdisciplines within the core of materials science and engineering and those in which materials problems are an important subset of a broader field of interest. These core specialties consist of solid-state and polymer physics, polymer chemistry, and the engineering fields of materials science and engineering, metallurgy, ceramics, and polymers.
|
From page 147... ...
they should provide the fundamental underpinnings that will permit students who so desire to pursue graduate work in the field. As noted above, the majority of materials scientists and engineers do not earn advanced degrees, giving undergraduate education a special importance.
|
From page 148... ...
The most effective materials scientists and engineers will be well versed in fundamental principles and yet conversant with the general language of the multiple disciplines subsumed by the field. Although the idea of integration has been repeated often in this report, its execution may be especially difficult at the undergraduate level, given the wide range of student interests and the constraints imposed by the goals of a liberal arts education.
|
From page 149... ...
Apparently, the large and growing interest in materials other than metals has not yet manifested itself in a significant redistribution of faculty interests and expertise. Many of the faculty in materials departments who have specialized in metals are now nearing retirement age, so that these departments now have the opportunity to achieve a more balanced representation of materials classes.
|
From page 150... ...
As was also concluded in the COSMAT study, accurate data describing current activities of faculty members outside materials departments are nearly impossible to obtain, but it seems reasonable to assume that the interests of this broad group are in areas encompassing the use of metals, ceramics, and polymers. For example, the curricula of most university engineering departments include a course in materials, usually tailored to the specific interests of the specialty.
|
From page 151... ...
The committee believes that undergraduate materials engineering education should be centered in materials departments offering accredited degree programs with specialties in metallurgy, ceramics, or polymers, or broader programs that cover materials more generally. These departments should develop strong interactions in research and teaching with other engineering departments and with some science departments.
|
From page 152... ...
The lack of textbooks is exacerbated in part by the vast research opportunities for most materials science and engineering faculty. It is clear that materials science and engineering faculty now spend a much higher fraction of their time on research and are writing fewer textbooks today than in the past two decades.
|
From page 153... ...
Keeping the laboratory up to date by replacing outmoded equipment requires annual funding equivalent to 10 to lS percent of the initial investment. Solutions to this problem may have to include combining graduate and undergraduate laboratories and facilities, particularly expensive and often specialized instruments for structural characterization.
|
From page 154... ...
Focused project work (as is required in most master's degree programs) and thesis research (requisite for the Ph.D.)
|
From page 155... ...
But this committee believes that materials are so central to the development of modern science and technology, and to problems of productivity and international competitiveness, that each university should have the strengthening and broadening of materials science and engineering as important institutional goals. Among the well-established means for fostering a productive mix of interests and activities are shared central facilities, courses taken in common and perhaps jointly taught and based on examples from all materials classes, interdepartmental thesis committees, shared use of teaching assistants, and seminars taken in common.
|
From page 156... ...
An expected but not yet fully realized benefit of sponsored centers such as engineering research centers and materials research laboratories and groups is that they encourage collaborations with industry. Such collaborations allow graduate students working at these centers to experience how industry addresses materials problems, which usually require a multidisciplinary approach.
|
From page 157... ...
Some large firms have integrated continuing education into their operations. Typically, they offer courses that are up to 15 weeks long, and subjects range from introductory physics to topics of technical interest to the company.
|
From page 158... ...
NTU already offers a variety of courses in materials science and engineering, ranging from a short course on materials selection to live lectures from the University of Illinois course on composite materials for doctoral students, and it is considering a master's degree program in the field. Needs and Goals in Continuing Education Industry and professional societies should take a more active role in ensuring that a multidisciplinary message is transmitted to materials scientists and engineers who need additional technical education or redirection and in strengthening educational efforts in materials synthesis and processing.
|
From page 159... ...
This probably reflects the fact that the subject is usually ignored in high school chemistry and physics courses, which are the likely choices for an introduction to this fast-moving area of science and technology. Materials scientists and engineers could well consider volunteering some time to their local school systems.
|
From page 160... ...
level, from physics, chemistry, and allied engineering fields, as well as from materialsdesignated departments. ~ Undergraduate courses and programs, regardless of departmental location, should emphasize the four basic elements of the field and their in
|
From page 161... ...
A special need is evident in the area of synthesis and processing, covering the spectrum from processing science to manufacturing. · Undergraduate materials engineering education should be centered in materials departments.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.