The Ph.D. program is designed to give students a broad and deep understanding of materials science and engineering so that they will have long and fruitful careers as researchers. When a student graduates from our program, he or she will be one of the world's leading experts in the area of their dissertation research, but will also have the intellectual tools needed to move into new research areas as the field grows and develops.
During the first year of the Ph.D. program, students take at least six courses from our core curriculum, attend the weekly colloquium lectures to learn about cutting edge materials science research, locate a faculty research advisor, and become involved in that research group.
The core curriculum consists of the following ten courses:
- MATSCI 201 Mathematical and Computational Methods in Materials Science
- MATSCI 202 Solid State Thermodynamics
- MATSCI 203 Atomic Arrangements in Solids
- MATSCI 204 Phase Equilibria
- MATSCI 205 Waves and Diffraction in Solids
- MATSCI 206 Imperfections in Crystalline Solids
- MATSCI 207 Rate Processes in Materials (Kinetics)
- MATSCI 208 Mechanical Properties of Materials
- MATSCI 209 Electrical, Optical and Magnetic Properties of Solids
- MATSCI 210 Organic Materials
201 and 202 are optional, but suggested for students who did not take similar classes as undergraduates. 203, 204 and 207 are required for all Ph.D. students. Students must take either 205 or 206. They must also take two of the following three classes: 208, 209 or 210. Students who do not take nine classes from the core during their first year are encouraged to take elective classes that will prepare them for the research they plan to do.
Students are expected to find a research group to join by the start of Winter Quarter. During the summer after the first academic year, students typically work intensely on research under the guidance of a professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department or a professor from another materials-related department.
In the second year, students continue to do research and typically take one or two courses per quarter. Between October and January, they take a qualifying examination, which they must pass to be formally admitted to candidacy for a Ph.D. degree. In the first part of the exam, students give a 20-minute presentation on their proposed area of dissertation research. A committee of professors, which includes the student's advisor, then questions the student on the proposed topic for twenty minutes. Finally, the professors ask questions for 80 minutes on topics from the core curriculum. Students are expected to demonstrate an understanding of the fundamentals of materials science and to show that they can think clearly on aspects that are important for their research. Students who do not pass the qualifing exam can attempt it one more time in the Spring Quarter. It is not uncommon to pass one part but not both parts on the first try.
Once students pass the qualifying exam, they continue to take classes and do their dissertation research. Students are required to take 57 technical course units (approximately nineteen quarter-long classes), including four classes from one of the following specialty areas:
- Biomaterials
- Electronic Materials Processing
- Materials Characterization
- Mechanical Behavior of Solids
- Physics of Solids and Computation
- Soft Materials
The final stage of the Ph.D. program is to write a dissertation and pass the university oral examination, which involves giving a public seminar defending the dissertation and answering questions from a private panel of four professors. Most students complete the entire program in five years and receive several employment offers as they write their dissertation.
A more complete listing of the requirements for the PhD program is given in the Materials Science and Engineering section of the Stanford Bulletin.