Degree Regulations and Requirements

Admissions Requirements and Financial Aid:

To be admitted for study toward the M.S. or Ph.D. degree in Materials Science at UNC, an applicant must have completed an undergraduate degree in one or more of the chemical, physical, biological or materials sciences or in engineering or mathematics. Exceptions to this policy will be made at the discretion of the Graduate Admissions Committee.

The Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical portions of the Graduate Record Examination are required, and a GRE Advanced test in an appropriate subject (e.g. Physics, Chemistry, Engineering) is recommended. If the applicant does not hold an undergraduate degree from an English-speaking university or college, acceptable scores on the TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language) are required. Other materials to be submitted are detailed in the application forms.

Applicants to the program will automatically be considered for the limited number of assistantships and fellowships administered by the University, but acceptance to the program does not guarantee financial aid. Applicants are also urged to apply for the various national fellowships and scholarships in science and technology, e.g. those sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Departments of Energy and Defense, and industrial sponsors.

Core Curriculum and Elective Courses:

The core curriculum consists of courses which are taken by all Materials Science students unless they have received equivalent training elsewhere. The courses cover: fundamentals of materials science, structure of solids, materials fabrication, chemistry and physics of surfaces, thermodynamics, kinetics and diffusion, electronic and optical properties, and polymers. These courses are ordinarily completed in the first two years of study. Students with a background in a related field may find it necessary to take one or more preliminary courses in physics, chemistry, or mathematics as preparation for the core materials science courses.

Elective courses are offered in a variety of materials science areas. Examples include: Chemistry and Physics of Electronic Materials Processing; Physical Chemistry of Polymers; and Biocompatibility and Tissue Integration of Biomaterials. Decisions about which courses to take are guided by the student’s research interests and the advice of the student’s research supervisor and the Director of Graduate Studies. Each student, therefore, follows an individualized course of study.