The rapid rise of the Bourns College of Engineering continues this year with a new inter departmental program—an interdisciplinary program in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE).  The innovative program will provide students with a truly integrated degree program across all of the College’s departments. The first class of MSE undergraduate students will be admitted in the fall, as the College proceeds to win approval from the University of California Regents for a graduate program. Already more than 60 students have applied to the MSE program.

       

        “We were pleased with the large response to this program, news of which was largely word-of-mouth,” said Alexander A. Balandin, professor of electrical engineering and chair of the new program. “The strength of the College in nanotechnology and materials science and engineering is well understood.” More than 30 professors of the Bourns College of Engineering participate in the MSE program. This year each of the five established departments are continuing to recruit new faculty to establish a core faculty of the interdisciplinary program. Materials science and nanotechnology represent nearly unprecedented career potential for today’s students in pharmaceuticals, medicine, manufacturing, computing, automotive, aerospace, and nearly every industry. Innovation today is occurring less at the device level and more at the materials level as understanding grows of materials at the atomic and subatomic levels. As a result the revolution in electronics of 50 years ago is now accelerating with the development of materials that advance our capabilities in mechanics, chemistry, electronics, optics, and magnetic data storage.

        Construction of the $56 million Materials Science and Engineering Building is on schedule to open in 2010. The timing is perfect, according to Balandin, since the students entering the College in the fall will be ready to begin their more advanced study when the building is completed. “This is a great recruitment tool that very few universities can match,” he said. The new Materials Science and Engineering program will be focused on nanotechnology, energy and sustainability, according to Balandin. “The research and development of the advanced materials and education of the next generation of MSE experts with expertise in these areas have a clear strategic importance for our nation,” he said. The strong implication is toward developing new devices and sensor technology with commercial, environmental, energy, health and national security values, he said. “These investments in laboratory facilities as well as intensive faculty recruitment will give the College and the whole campus unsurpassed competence in materials and nanotechnology,” Balandin said.