Stanford
Materials Science and Engineering

Focus Area

Focus Area options

The Focus Area will allow you to specialize in a specific subfield of MatSci that is aligned with your personal and professional goals. You should choose one of the areas below, or define your own, that combines a set of advanced coursework into a cohesive program. We provide several examples as suggested pathways, but ultimately we encourage you to choose/define the area that feels best to you. 

The Focus Area requires 3 courses total with a minimum of 9 units*. At least one of these courses must be in MATSCI and none of them can be 1-unit seminars. No IntroSems (freshman- or sophomore-level) can be used for the Focus Area. Students in the Honors Program may count up to six units of MATSCI 150 toward the Focus Area, but cannot use those units to replace the MATSCI course minimum.

Students pursuing this focus area will learn more about biocompatible, biomimetic, or even naturally occurring biological materials, along with how they can be engineered or otherwise created.

  • MATSCI 190: Organic and Biological Materials
  • MATSCI 225: Biochips and Medical Imaging
  • MATSCI 333: Soft Composites and Soft Robotics
  • MATSCI 381: Biomaterials in Regenerative Medicine
  • MATSCI 384: Materials Advances in Neurotechnology
  • MATSCI 385: Biomaterials for Drug Delivery
  • BIOE 80: Introduction to Bioengineering
  • BIOE 220: Introduction to Imaging and Image-based Human Anatomy
  • BIOE 231: Protein Engineering
  • BIOE 260: Tissue Engineering
  • BIOE 279: Computational Biology: Structure and Organization of Biomolecules and Cells
  • BIOE 281: Biomechanics of Movement
  • BIOE 282: Introduction to Biomechanics and Mechanobiology
  • ENGR 55: Foundational Biology for Engineers
  • APPPHYS 205: Introduction to Biophysics (BIO 126, BIO 226)

Students pursuing this focus area will learn about the thermodynamic principles governing materials, the chemistry involved in the synthesis of materials, as well as the design of the systems and processes necessary to create them.

Students pursuing this focus area will learn more about computational methods used to study materials structure-property relationships and how to make materials predictions.

  • MATSCI 165: Nanoscale Materials Physics Computation Laboratory
  • MATSCI 166: Data Science and Machine Learning Approaches in Chemical and Materials Engineering
  • MATSCI 331: Computational Materials Science at the Atomic Scale
  • CHEM 161: Computational Chemistry
  • CHEM 263: Machine Learning for Chemical and Dynamical Data
  • CME 107: Introduction to Machine Learning
  • CME 108: Introduction to Scientific Computing
  • CME 216: Machine Learning for Computational Engineering
  • CME 322: Spectral Methods in Computational Physics
  • CS 129: Applied Machine Learning
  • ME 123: Computational Engineering
  • ME 335A: Finite Element Analysis
  • ME 346B: Introduction to Molecular Simulations
  • PHYSICS 113: Computational Physics

Students pursuing this focus area will learn more about the design and function of electronic and/or photonic devices, as well as the underlying principles of physics relevant to their operation.

  • MATSCI 152: Electronic Materials Engineering
  • MATSCI 199: Electronic and Optical Properties of Solids
  • MATSCI 317: Defects in Semiconductors
  • MATSCI 341: Quantum Theory of Electronic and Optical Excitations in Materials
  • MATSCI 346: Nanophotonics
  • APPPHYS 201: Electrons and Photons
  • APPPHYS 204: Quantum Materials
  • EE 101A: Circuits I
  • EE 102A: Signals and Systems I
  • EE 116: Semiconductor Devices for Energy and Electronics
  • EE 134: Introduction to Photonics
  • EE 153: Power Electronics
  • EE 157: Electric Motors for Renewable Energy, Robotics, and Electric Vehicles
  • EE 212: Integrated Circuit Fabrication Processes
  • EE 216: Principles and Models of Semiconductor Devices
  • EE 218: Power Semiconductor Devices and Technology
  • EE 222: Applied Quantum Mechanics I
  • EE 223: Applied Quantum Mechanics II
  • EE 292S: Understanding the Sensors in your Smartphone
  • ENGR 240: Introduction to Micro and Nano Electromechanical Systems
  • ENGR 241: Advanced Micro and Nano Fabrication Laboratory
  • ME 210: Introduction to Mechatronics
  • ME 220: Introduction to Sensors

Students pursuing this focus area will learn more about the tools and techniques used in advanced materials characterization, particularly at the micro- and nanoscale.

  • MATSCI 236: An Introduction to Quantitative X-ray Microanalysis
  • MATSCI 320: Nanocharacterization of Materials
  • MATSCI 321: Transmission Electron Microscopy
  • MATSCI 322: Transmission Electron Microscopy Laboratory
  • MATSCI 323: Thin Film and Interface Microanalysis
  • MATSCI 324: Optics of Microscope Design for Materials
  • MATSCI 326: X-Ray Science and Techniques
  • MATSCI 327: Transmission Electron Microscopy Analysis and Simulation
  • AA 252: Techniques of Failure Analysis
  • APPPHYS 201: Electrons and Photons
  • APPPHYS 222: Principles of X-ray Scattering (PHOTON 222)
  • BIOE 220: Introduction to Imaging and Image-based Human Anatomy
  • BIO 232: Advanced Imaging Lab in Biophysics
  • CEE 192: Laboratory Characterization of Properties of Rocks and Geomaterials
  • CHEM 131: Instrumental Analysis Principles and Practice
  • CHEM 174: Physical Chemistry Laboratory I
  • CHEM 176: Spectroscopy Laboratory
  • CHEMENG 345: Fundamentals and Applications of Spectroscopy
  • ME 149: Mechanical Measurements

Students pursuing this focus area will learn more about materials used in modern energy technologies, potentially including solar cells, wind turbines, batteries, and fuel cells, as well as other emerging energy production or storage devices.

  • MATSCI 156: Solar Cells, Fuel Cells, and Batteries: Materials for the Energy Solution
  • MATSCI 302: Solar Cells
  • MATSCI 303: Principles, Materials and Devices of Batteries
  • BIOS 255: Solar Energy Conversion and Storage
  • CEE 107A: Understand Energy
  • CHEM 174: Physical Chemistry Laboratory I
  • EE 116: Semiconductor Devices for Energy and Electronics
  • EE 153: Power Electronics
  • EE 237: Solar Energy Conversion
  • EE 293B: Fundamentals of Energy Processes
  • ENERGY 102: Fundamentals of Renewable Power
  • ENERGY 153: Carbon Capture and Sequestration
  • ENERGY 201C/ENERGY 293: Energy Storage and Conversion: Solar Cells, Fuel Cells, and Batteries
  • ENERGY 295: Electrochemical Energy Storage Systems: Modeling and Estimation
  • PHYSICS 199: The Physics of Energy and Climate Change
  • PHYSICS 240: Introduction to the Physics of Energy

Students pursuing this focus area will gain a deep foundational knowledge of materials physics, with topics focusing on quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, and waves and diffraction, and other advanced topics.

Students pursuing this focus area will learn more about the mechanical behavior of materials, including how to characterize them, and how these mechanical properties influence the design of technologies.

  • MATSCI 151: Microstructure and Mechanical Properties
  • MATSCI 163: Mechanical Behavior Laboratory
  • MATSCI 183: Defects and Disorder in Materials
  • MATSCI 198: Mechanical Properties of Materials
  • MATSCI 312: New Methods in Thin Film Synthesis
  • MATSCI 358: Fracture and Fatigue of Materials and Thin Film Structures
  • AA 240: Analysis of Structures
  • AA 256: Mechanics of Composites
  • AA 280: Smart Structures
  • CEE 305: Damage and Failure Mechanics of Structural Systems
  • CHEMENG 140: Micro and Nanoscale Fabrication Engineering
  • CHEMENG 170X: Mechanics of Soft Matter: Rheology
  • ENGR 240: Introduction to Micro and Nano Electromechanical Systems
  • ENGR 241: Advanced Micro and Nano Fabrication Laboratory
  • ME 127: Design for Additive Manufacturing
  • ME 129: Manufacturing Processes and Design
  • ME 152: Material Behaviors and Failure Prediction
  • ME 283: Introduction to Biomechanics and Mechanobiology
  • ME 303: Soft Composites and Soft Robotics
  • ME 335A: Finite Element Analysis
  • ME 340: Mechanics – Elasticity and Inelasticity
  • ME 345: Fatigue Design and Analysis
  • ME 348: Experimental Stress Analysis

Students pursuing this focus area will learn more about how materials properties change at the nanoscale, including the new and interesting ways in which these changes can be exploited for novel technologies.

  • MATSCI 160: Nanomaterials Design
  • MATSCI 320: Nanocharacterization of Materials
  • MATSCI 327: Transmission Electron Microscopy Analysis and Simulation
  • MATSCI 346: Nanophotonics
  • MATSCI 380: Nano-Biotechnology
  • APPPHYS 189: Physical Analysis of Artworks
  • CHEMENG 140X: Micro and Nanoscale Fabrication Engineering
  • EE 212: Integrated Circuit Fabrication Processes
  • EE 334: Micro and Nano Optical Device Design
  • ENGR 240: Introduction to Micro and Nano Electromechanical Systems
  • ENGR 241: Advanced Micro and Nano Fabrication Laboratory

Students may also define their own Focus Area containing a minimum of 9 units (3 courses) that comprise a cohesive program of study. Many students use this option to create an interdisciplinary Focus Area that combines parts of the listed Focus Area options above. Students should also choose this option if including courses not listed in one of the Focus Area tracks and must submit a departmental deviation petition form, as described here. The approved petition form should be included with their final program sheet when conferring their degree.