Description

International Year One allows you to begin earning credits toward your degree even if you don’t meet the academic and English requirements for direct entry. You will receive additional support to help you successfully complete your first year and graduate in the same amount of time as direct entry students.

Materials engineering involves the development, production, modification, and application of engineering materials to meet the specific needs of society. It is based on an understanding of the structures and forces that control the engineering properties of metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites. Through the development of this understanding, the student learns how to control the properties of materials through various industrial manufacturing processes, how to select the optimum material and predict its behavior under various environmental and service conditions, and how to alter this behavior through materials design, research, and development. Materials Engineers are employed in every major industry, including aerospace, chemical, automotive, metals casting, biomedical, and microelectronics.

The materials engineering program at UAB has a curriculum of 128 semester credit hours that has been continuously accredited since 1971 by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET. In addition to courses in mathematics, calculus-based physics, chemistry, and the humanities/social sciences, students take a core of fundamental engineering course work and a sequence of materials engineering courses. The required materials engineering courses address ceramics, polymers, composite materials, and metals. They emphasize the relationships among properties, structure, processing, and performance. Materials engineering elective courses are also offered to introduce students to leading-edge materials engineering topics. The curriculum prepares graduates to directly enter the professional practice of materials science and engineering, to pursue graduate studies in materials science and engineering, or enter a professional school, such a medicine or dentistry. The department has very active research programs in metal casting and composite materials.