Students in the Cornell MS&E Ph.D. program come from a variety of engineering and physical science backgrounds. Some are MS&E undergraduates while many have degrees in areas such as Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, and Physics to name a few. The Cornell MS&E Ph.D. program embraces this breadth of experience and offers students a unique opportunity to explore the broad and inherently interdisciplinary nature of the field of Materials Science and Engineering. Research for the dissertation ensures that our students develop a depth of understanding in a particular subject area while coursework, seminars, research collaborations, and informal interactions provide our students with a comprehensive appreciation for the breadth of the field. MS&E Ph.D. students are required to fulfill two minor specializations (one in another field) which strengthen and empower the quality and richness of the educational program.
Our students have access to world-class physical infrastructure and research facilities. The Cornell Nanoscale Facility (CNF), the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR), the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), the Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC), and the Center for Nanoscale Systems in Information Technologies (CNS) offer students opportunities to work with the latest and most advanced research equipment available today. Regular collaborations across the university routinely bring major corporate partners such as IBM, Kodak, Corning, and Intel to Ithaca to work side-by-side with faculty and students, share research, and benefit from the state of the art facilities available on campus.
Our Ph.D. students have established a legacy of outstanding professional achievement and routinely rise to the tops of their respective fields. Our students typically go on to pursue careers both domestically and internationally with employers in the corporate, government, and academic sectors.