SJSU Catalog

Chemical and Materials Engineering Department

MS - Materials Engineering

The MS Materials Engineering program provides advanced study of materials engineering topics with emphasis on both the fundamental and applied aspects. A multi-disciplinary approach to education is evident in the materials engineering program’s specialization areas of semiconductor processing, structural materials, and biomaterials. Elective courses are also available in science, business, and other engineering fields. This broad-based, multi-disciplinary education has proven to be an important factor for a student’s future success, either at leading Silicon Valley companies or in Ph.D. programs. Class schedules are designed for the convenience of employed engineers who wish to pursue graduate work on a part-time basis.

The faculty are actively involved in research in a number of areas including electronic and magnetic materials, microelectronics processing, nanomaterials, MEMS, microelectronic packaging, polymers, composites and biomaterials. Research activity is sponsored by local industries as well as by government funding agencies.

The Materials Engineering program welcomes students with undergraduate degrees in a variety of other engineering and science disciplines.

For more information visit the department website: www.engr.sjsu.edu/cme/ or email: cme@email.sjsu.edu.

Program Objectives

The MATE Master’s program is designed to produce graduates who:

• Are able to solve complex engineering problems and tasks, and use engineering, science and statistics principles to justify recommendations.
• Are able to evaluate the impact of their work on society, including ethical, economic, global and environmental aspects.
• Can deliver effective presentations of engineering results in written and oral formats.
• Have life-long learning skills and are able to apply their engineering knowledge to critically evaluate relevant literature and new technologies or systems.
• Are effective leaders, capable of working in diverse environments.
• Are able to apply their engineering education to a variety of career paths.

Requirements for Admission

Candidates must meet all the university admission requirements. Students can be admitted in either classified or conditionally classified standing. To be admitted to classified standing, a student must possess a BS degree with a major in materials science or engineering or its equivalent from an accredited institution and a grade point average of 2.6 or better in the last 60 units.

Students can be admitted with conditionally classified standing if they have a BS degree in an engineering discipline, chemistry, biology, or physics from an accredited institution. Students with conditionally classified standing will take a series of transition courses. Once these are completed satisfactorily, students can petition from classified standing. For more information on the transition courses, contact the graduate coordinator at cme@email.sjsu.edu.

Requirements for Candidacy

Students must meet the university requirements for candidacy which includes successful completion of the Graduate English Writing Requirement. The University requires that all graduate students demonstrate competency in written English as a condition for advancement to candidacy. Please refer to the SJSU catalog section titled “Competency in Written English” for details. For graduate courses that meet the competency in written English requirement, please refer to the Graduate Studies and Research website at www.sjsu.edu/gradstudies.

Course Requirements

To meet the requirements for the MS - Materials Engineering degree, a student must complete 30 units of approved courses. Students must achieve a minimum of a "C" in each course and a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. In addition to the 30 approved course units, students must also pass a comprehensive oral examination administered by the department faculty. Students must complete a written thesis or project report and an oral defense of their thesis or project. Either Plan A (thesis) or Plan B (project) may be chosen by the candidate. Minimum requirements for each plan are as follows:

Course Requirements
Plan A (Thesis)			30
MATE 205, MATE 210, MATE 215, MATE 241 and MATE 251 (15); 9 units of approved electives (9); 1 unit of thesis prep (MATE 281) (1); 2 units of project (MATE 298) (2); 3 units of thesis (299) (3)
Plan B (Project)			30
MATE 205, MATE 210, MATE 215, MATE 241 and MATE 251 (15); 12 units of approved electives (12); 1 unit of project prep (MATE 281) (1); 2 units of project (MATE 298) (2)
Total Units:			30