Materials Science and Engineering

The PhD program in Materials Science and Engineering is an interdisciplinary program, with faculty mentors from many departments within Clarkson University, whose goal is to understand the properties, synthesis and processing of advanced materials.  This multi-disciplinary approach is vital given the complex nature of advanced materials.  Among the topics covered in the Materials Science and Engineering PhD program are:

• Advanced Materials for Alternative Energy
• Biomaterials
• Colloid Science and Technology
• Poymer Science and Engineering
• Materials Processing for Microelectronic Devices
• Computation and Simulation of Advanced Materials
• Materials of Construction
• Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering

PhD students use state-of-the-art experimental and computational facilities to pursue Materials Science and Engineering research on topics such as:

• Synthesis and application of nanoparticles for chemical catalysis.
• Particle removal from surfaces using acoustic and other methods.
• Anti-reflective and anti-biofouling polymer coatings.
• Incorporation of enzymes and antibodies into biosensors and bioelectronics.
• Novel concrete for drainage and corrosion resistance.
• Biopolymers and stimuli-response polymers.
• Electrodeposition of thin films for solar cell technologies.
• Grain size dependence of the mechanical properties of metals.
• Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) in processing of microelectronic devices.
• Simulation of fluid mechanics in materials processing.

The Materials Science and Engineering PhD program is closely associated with Clarkson's Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP), whose mission is "to perform innovative research and conduct educational efforts on the synthesis and processing of advanced materials of interest to industry."  Materials Science and Engineering faculty also collaborate with faculty associated with the Center for the Environment; Center for Rehabilitation Engineering, Science, and Technology (CREST); and Center for Air Resources Engineering and Science (CARES).

Graduate Student Success:

Our graduate students in the Materials field have been quite successful, as can be seen from their awards, publications, successful research proposals, and high job placement rates.  Some examples of recent successful graduate students include:

•  Meyya Meyyappan PhD '84 is Chief Scientist for Exploration Technology at the Center for Nanotechnology, NASA Ames Research Center. He is a founding member of the Interagency Working Group on Nanotechnology (IWGN), which is responsible for putting together the National Nanotechnology Initiative. His research interests include carbon nanotubes and inorganic nanowires, and their growth, characterization, and application.  Dr. Meyyappan is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Electrochemical Society (ECS), American Vacuum Society (AVS), Materials Research Society (MRS) and California Council of Science and Technology. He has received numerous awards, including a Presidential Meritorious Award and NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal. For his sustained contributions to nanotechnology, he was inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Council Hall of Fame in February 2009. 
• Dr. Brendan Farrell BS '04, MS '06, and PhD '10 is currently the Quality Control Laboratory and Research and Development Manager at Metalor Technologies. His research at Clarkson into the precipitation of metallic particles led to several patents and their subsequent commercialization in the electronics industry. 
• Christopher Pettit PhD '06 performed PhD research on electrochemistry and surface chemistry in aqueous electrolytes and in room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) in order to understand electrochemical double layer capacitors and surface planarization of interconnect metals within integrated circuits. Christopher is now an Assistant Professor of Physics at Emporia State University in Kansas. 
• Ramanathan Srinivasan MS '96 and PhD ‘00 worked as a Senior Consulting Engineer at PDF Solutions in San Jose, CA for 3 years. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras. He has published his research in journals ranging from Surface Science to Microelectronic Engineering. One of the chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries that he developed at Clarkson has been patented and widely used in the semiconductor industry.
• Dr. Lin Tian PhD '09 performed research on the transport and deposition of compact particles and elongated fibers in passages including tracheobronchial tree. One of her papers from the Journal of Aerosol Science was recognized as one of the top 10 most cited papers. She is currently an Assistant Professor at SUNY-Canton.

Details and Application Process:

Admission to graduate study will be granted to qualified applicants from all major fields of Science and Engineering.  Competitive research or teaching assistantships that include a full stipend and tuition waiver are available for PhD students.  Partial funding is also available through partial tuition waivers and graduate applications.

The Graduate School and the Materials Science and Engineering website provide additional details of the application process and degree requirements.