BSE in Materials Science and Engineering

Explore materials structure, properties and processing, including how materials impact many important technologies—from smartphones and car parts to satellites and solar panels.

two students working in materials engineering lab

Degree: Bachelor of Science in Engineering
Major: Materials Science and Engineering

A materials engineer understands why materials behave as they do under various conditions, recognizes their limits of performance and knows how best to manufacture them to meet the demands of any application. Are you ready to help create the next generation of materials that make up the world around us? Then think materials science and engineering at Case Western Reserve University.

From the macroscopic to microscopic—and even to the atomic level—materials touch every sector, from the planes that soar above us to the smartphone in our hands to the biomedical implants that save lives. And the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve has more than 100 years of expertise in the development and enhancement of the materials that make our lives better.

The Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree program with a major in Materials Science and Engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, www.abet.org, under the commission’s General Criteria and Program Criteria for Materials (1), Metallurgical (2), Ceramics (3), and Similarly Named Engineering Programs. It offers a solid core of foundational materials understanding, including chemistry, physics, thermodynamics and materials processing. Our upper-level classes explore materials for biological and medical technology, energy and sustainability, electronics and more. Plus, personalize your materials science and engineering degree by choosing from one of five areas of concentration:

  • Biomaterials

  • Structural materials

  • Electronic materials

  • Polymers

  • Materials data science

Just can’t choose? You can design your own custom concentration as well!

Want to go further? Consider our BS/MS Program, which lets you earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree in just five years.

With a multidisciplinary campus like Case Western Reserve as your new academic home, you’re able to choose from courses offered by our schools and college of arts and science, management, nursing and more to round out your degree requirements. Love history? Want to double major in music? Get entrepreneurial with some business acumen? Not a problem. Even core requirements like composition classes can be met by interesting seminar topics like the impact of materials on societal development or an exploration of green energy.

And courses are just the start. The vast majority of our students participate in some kind of experiential learning activity, from co-ops and studying abroad to research. In fact, interested students can get involved in research beginning their first year on campus, with many students publishing in peer-reviewed journals before they graduate. From putting solar panels to the test at our campus sun farm to climbing to the top of our wind turbine; from pouring metal in our on-campus foundry to studying the structure and composition of composites in our state-of-the-art surface analysis center, our students work side by side with world-renowned materials experts in the lab.

Plus, Cleveland is the place for engineers. Home to engineering Fortune 500 companies like Parker-Hannifin and Goodyear, as well as startups rolling out of the Health-Tech Corridor and the university’s Technology Transfer efforts, opportunities abound for internships, co-ops and employment.

Our students go on to work at places like GE, Cisco, Intel, KLA-Tencor and NanoSolar, as well as advancing to earn their master’s or PhD from places like MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Georgia Tech and more.

Explore degree requirements, courses and more in the university's General Bulletin.

General Bulletin

 

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