Graduate Research

All of the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering faculty conduct active research programs in many different topical areas. Research interests of the faculty include solidification science and technology, metal matrix composites, mechanical properties of materials, development of new materials for information storage, mathematical and physical modeling of materials-processing operations such as solidification and steel making, plasma processing of materials, electromagnetically driven flow systems, corrosion, electrodeposition, resource reclamation, foundry methods, and metal casting.

If you wish additional details concerning any faculty member's research areas, please visit the Faculty Research webpage.

Undergraduate Research

Many undergraduate students are recruited by the faculty to participate in research projects. Such participation could be used toward academic credit or could provide employment (part time during the academic year and sometimes full time during the summer). Such valuable experience can be extremely helpful when faced with finding a permanent position after graduation.

Facilities

Laboratories

The metallurgical and materials engineering laboratories include facilities for solidification processing, chemical metallurgy, mechanical processing, heat treating, specimen preparation, light and electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, corrosion, and electrochemistry. New, specialized facilities also exist for rapid and unidirectional solidification, container less melting, chemical-vapor deposition, sputtering of thin films, thermo gravimetric analysis, and surface studies. Extensive work with computer modeling and data acquisition and analysis is currently under way. A two-story facility of approximately 20,000 square feet is equipped with comprehensive metal-casting equipment. It provides space and facilities for teaching, research, and service to metal-casting and processing industries and is one of the largest facilities of its kind in the United States. The laboratory houses all basic types of equipment used in operating foundries and permits demonstration to students of most of the practices encountered in making cast iron, steel, and nonferrous alloys.