Research Areas

Research in materials science and engineering may focus on a discipline which could be a specific material or category of material (steel or magnetic materials, for example) or on a theme which could be an approach (such as computational science), a process (such as welding), or a principle common to many materials (corrosion, for example). Below is a list of some of the areas of research currently underway in MIT's DMSE. See Materials@MIT for stories, links, and updates on materials research throughout MIT.

• Biotechnology
• Characterization
• Computational Materials Science involves and enables the visualization of concepts and materials processes which are otherwise difficult to describe or even imagine. Among other things, this field of allows materials to be designed and tested efficiently.
• Corrosion and Environmental Effects. The H.H. Uhlig Lab investigates the causes of failure in materials and the prevention of failure in materials, with an emphasis on nuclear materials.
• Defects
• Devices
• Economics of Materials
• Electrochemistry
• Electronic, Optical, and Magnetic Properties
• Energy and the Environment includes research on creating and improving power supplies, working with alternative power sources, and improving materials processing and recycling. The H.H. Uhlig Lab has the ability to test and analyze failure modes of any materials related to nuclear engineering in the fields of fission, fusion and nuclear research.
• Magnetic Properties
• Manufacturing
• Materials Culture is the study of the structure and properties of materials associated with human activity. Plant and animal food remains, human skeletal material, as well as metal, ceramic, stone, bone, and fiber artifacts are the objects of study, along with the environments within which these materials were produced and used.
  MIT's Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology (CMRAE) is renowned for their work in this area.
• Materials Processing
• Materials Theory
• Mechanical Properties and Nanomechanics
  One DMSE facility performing research in this area is the NanoMechanical Technology Lab (the NanoLab).
• Nanotechnology
  This research covers projects ranging from atomic-level manipulation (e.g., nanocrystals) to the micro-scale (e.g., MEMS devices). These new developments promise to enhance our way of life in areas such as communication, healthcare, and transportation, among others. DMSE is active in nanotechnology research.
  One DMSE facility performing research in this area is the NanoMechanical Technology Lab (the NanoLab).
• Optoelectronics
• Phase Transformations
• Self Assembly
• Surfaces, Interfaces, and Thin Films
• Transport Properties