Stanford
Materials Science and Engineering

Honors Program

Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Application
  3. Progress
  4. Completion

Overview

The Materials Science and Engineering Honors Program offers an opportunity for outstanding undergraduate MSE majors who are pursuing independent research to further develop their scientific communication skills and receive recognition for their achievements. The main requirements are as follows:

  1. Application to the Honors Program with support from a Faculty Advisor.
  2. Hold and maintain a minimum GPA of 3.700.
  3. Enrollment in MATSCI 150 for independent research for a minimum of three quarters and nine units.
  4. Completion of a Faculty-approved Honors thesis.
  5. Participation in either the annual Materials Science and Engineering Research Symposium or an alternate, approved public oral/poster presentation.

Since this requires three quarters of research in addition to a final written thesis and presentation of the work, students should apply to the Honors Program no later than four quarters prior to their planned graduation date to ensure all requirements can be completed.† We encourage you to meet with an MSE Advisor early on to receive information about the application process. 

† You are allowed to complete some/all of these requirements prior to application. Even then, please submit your application as soon as possible!

If you're a first-/second-year student and the Honors Program interests you, we encourage you to look at the Stanford Academic Advising page or speak with an MSE Advisor to help plan ahead.

All requirements for the Honors Program are in addition to the normal undergraduate program requirements. Please do not hesitate to contact the Honors Program Coordinator, Enze Chen, if you have questions at any time.

To apply to the MATSCI Honors Program

  1. Have an overall GPA of 3.700 or higher (as listed at the end of the unofficial transcript) at the time of application.
  2. Have taken ENGR 50 and at least six MATSCI courses. If you haven't taken enough courses, we ask you to wait before submitting an Honors application (but you can still complete the requirements).
  3. Seek out a Faculty Research Advisor and agree on a proposed research topic.
    1. If the Advisor is not a member of the MSE Faculty (either Full, Associate, or Assistant" Professor; not Adjunct or Courtesy), students must have a second advisor who is.
  4. Complete an Honors Program application package, which includes the following three documents:
    1. The MSE Honors Application form signed by your chosen Faculty Research Advisor. [save as: LastName_Honors_Application.pdf]
    2. Compose a brief (1 page, ~300–500 words) summary of the proposed research, including a proposed title. The summary should have motivation, current developments (citations optional), your proposed methodology, and anticipated impact. [LastName_Honors_Proposal.pdf]
    3. Your unofficial transcript as downloaded from Axess. [LastName_Honors_Transcript.pdf]
  5. Submit the application package as email attachments in an email addressed to MSE Student Services, MSE UG Advising, and the Honors Program Coordinator (currently Enze).
  6. After approval for the Honors Program, formally declare the Honors degree through Axess in order for Honors to appear on your diploma.

Progressing through the MATSCI Honors Program

Congratulations on joining the MATSCI Honors Program! To support you in successful completion of all program requirements, here are some tips. 

  • MATSCI 150: These UG research units should be commensurate with the amount of work you’re doing (1 unit ≈ 3 hours). The Honors Program requires at least nine units of UG research over three quarters.
    • It’s possible that circumstances prevent you from enrolling in MATSCI 150 units in some quarters, but you're still actively doing research. This is acceptable if it's arranged with your Advisor, who must sign a petition if you don't meet the quarters/units requirement.
    • The three quarters must focus on the same topic and be with the same Faculty Advisor. They do not have to be consecutive and can be completed prior to application.
    • When you enroll in MATSCI 150, you should specify your Faculty Advisor as the Instructor. If they're not listed in the options in Axess, please email MSE SSO to have them added, and then try to enroll.
    • Instead of units, you may be doing research for pay and/or research over the summer (e.g., Major Grants). These alternative options are also valid, please note them in your petition for recordkeeping.
  • Oral presentation: Sharing your research with the broader scientific community is an integral part of research. We will hold the MSE Research Symposium poster session in the Spring quarter which will be required for Honors students. Other ways of satisfying this requirement include the following, although applications require planning ahead!
    • At Stanford: SURPS in the Fall, and SRC and ASURPS in the Spring.
    • At professional conferences: Options for posters or talks, done by many past students. Discuss with your Research Advisor about the best venue, including:
      • General MSE-related conferences: MRS, TMS, ACS, APS, etc.
      • Specialized conferences like the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and the Electrochemical Society (ECS) meetings.
      • Funding: Conferences aren't cheap! See if there's a student registration tier, and funding like the Stanford Conference Grant. Also talk to your Advisor about assistance.
    • Poster design and presentation tips: See SURPS and other online guides. Your lab mentor/members can often provide templates and feedback.
    • What does not count: REU poster session (even if it’s the same project, this is too premature of a stage), group meeting presentations (need a broader, public audience).
  • Thesis writing: We have shared some recommended guidelines and tips for your thesis, as well as templates in Google Docs and LaTeX.
    • Examples from past years (styles vary widely) can be found in the MSE Collection in Searchworks.
  • Thesis readers: Your thesis needs two Faculty to sign off on it. If you’re co-advised or collaborate with other groups, those Faculty may be the easiest ones to reach. Otherwise, you may want to look through our MSE Faculty to identify ones with aligned research interests.
    • Reaching out several months in advance to get a verbal/written commitment is advised, if not even earlier!

Again, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact an MSE Advisor or the Honors Program Coordinator.

To complete the MATSCI Honors Program

At the start of your anticipated UG graduation quarter, double check your unofficial transcript on Axess before applying to graduate to make sure it contains:

  • An overall GPA of 3.700 or higher.
  • The MSE "with Honors" degree option listed at the top; if not, you have to add Honors to your degree through Axess.
  • At least three quarters of research with a minimum of nine units of MATSCI 150 with satisfactory performance (may petition out with Faculty Advisor approval).

With regards to your Honors thesis:

  • Submit final drafts of your thesis to two Faculty Readers (one must be your Research Advisor, and one must be an MSE Faculty member or SoE Academic Council member) at least one month prior to the thesis submission deadline, out of respect to your readers who have many theses to read.
    • For those graduating in June 2026, this means sharing your draft by April 15, 2026. Of course, the earlier the better!
  • Both Faculty must approve the thesis by completing a signature page.
  • Your Faculty Research Advisor also needs to sign off certifying completion of the poster/oral presentation requirement.

Final submission

  1. Prepare your PDF files as:
    1. LastName_Honors_Thesis.pdf
    2. LastName_Signature_Page.pdf (signed by both Readers)
    3. LastName_Petition_MSE150.pdf (if necessary).
  2. Submit electronic copies of these completed documents to MSE SSO and MSE UG Advising.
    1. The final thesis submission deadline is May 15, 2026 11:59pm. The MSE Department will review submissions and determine potential nominations for University Thesis Awards.
  3. Deposit the electronic thesis (PDF) into the Stanford Digital Repository MSE Honors Collection following these instructions.