1 GRADUATE COUNCIL MEETING 9 May 2012 102 Kern Graduate ...

N3
1. Overview and Rationale of Proposed Changes for Requirements for M.S.
and Ph.D. Degrees in Materials Science and Engineering
The M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering (MATSC) require a total of
12 and 18 credit hours of 500-level coursework, respectively. Originally, the requirements did
not specify the particular courses that the students were required to take to satisfy the credit
requirements. However, the majority of students in the program typically took several traditional
materials courses including thermodynamics, kinetics and crystal chemistry. In the interest of
developing a more consistent curriculum, the Graduate Curriculum Committee within the
Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in MATSC undertook a study to develop a proposed set
of required core graduate courses. The committee surveyed the requirements and course contents
of peer institutions and also sent a survey to alumni to gather information in order to develop a
framework of courses that could be considered as foundational knowledge in the field. Based
upon this work, the committee proposed the following three core graduate courses that should be
required of all students obtaining an M.S. degree in MATSC:
• Thermodynamics of Materials (MATSE 501, 3 credits)
• Kinetics of Materials Processes (MATSE 503, 3 credits)
• Principles of Crystal Chemistry (MATSE 512, 3 credits)
In addition to the new graduate core courses, the committee also recommended that all graduate
students be required to take a 1 credit course on Professional Development (MATSE 582) that
would supplement the online training in Responsible Conduct of Research that is now required
of all new graduate students under the Penn State Scholarship and Research Integrity (SARI)
program. This course would fulfill the 5 hours of discussion-based ethics training that is a
requirement of the SARI program.
The proposed graduate core courses currently exist within the MATSC curriculum so new
courses do not need to be developed or approved. The Professional Development course was
taught the past two years as a 597 course and a formal course proposal was recently submitted.
The proposed core graduate courses were presented to the faculty of the Intercollege Graduate
Degree Program in MATSC via e-mail and during a faculty meeting held in July 2010. The
changes to the course requirements were approved by the faculty via an electronic vote which
2