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Undergraduate Program

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Stanford encourages all undergraduates to pursue a broad-based education, and this policy allows them to sample the resources of the university before committing to a major field of study.

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MSE’s undergraduate degree program has consistently ranked in the top ten of U.S. News and World Report’s annual comparison of U.S. materials engineering programs.

MSE has recently expanded the undergraduate curriculum with a new series of lecture courses focusing on nanomaterials science and technology. The new lecture courses include three Introduction to Materials Science classes with an emphasis on either biomaterials, energy or nanotechnology, and more specialized undergraduate classes on:

  • Nanostructure and Characterization
  • Bio-Chips, Imaging and Nanomedicine
  • Solar Cells, Fuel Cells and Batteries: Materials for the Energy Solution

Our MSE program also offers a variety of laboratory classes, which offer hands-on lab experience for our undergraduate students. This’s year lab courses include Nanomaterials, Nanocharacterization, X-Ray Diffraction, Electronic and Photonic Materials and Devices Lab, and Mechanical Behavior.

A very popular component of our MSE undergraduate major is the opportunity for students to do a research project with one of the MSE professors. The MSE Undergraduate Research Program — Engineering Materials for Advances in Energy, Biology, and Nanotechnology is a 10-week program, and the students of all years ranging from freshman to seniors are given opportunities to work closely with a professor on a summer research project. Many students from this program choose to continue their research with their faculty advisors throughout their undergraduate years at Stanford. 

The requirements for this degree are described in the Materials Science and Engineering section of the Stanford Bulletin and the School of Engineering Undergraduate Handbook. Electives are available so students with broad interests can combine materials science and engineering with work in another science and engineering department.