Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM)

Director

James C. Sturm

Executive Committee

Robert H. Austin, Physics

Ravindra Bhatt, Electrical Engineering

Robert J. Cava, Chemistry

Stephen Y. Chou, Electrical Engineering

Claire Gmachl, Electrical Engineering

Richard B. Miles, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Richard A. Register, Chemical Engineering

Jean E. Schwarzbauer, Molecular Biology

Winston O. Soboyejo, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

James C. Sturm, Electrical Engineering

David W. Tank, Molecular Biology, Physics

Sigurd Wagner, Electrical Engineering

Sits with Committee

Joseph G. Michels

Joseph X. Montemarano

 

Modern materials development has become a continuum, from the synthesis of new materials to the demonstration of performance benefits upon incorporation into a device, component, or system at an acceptable cost. The principles governing materials design and synthesis emanate primarily from biology, chemistry, and physics, whereas implementation and performance issues are addressed in engineering. Accordingly, there must be unimpeded crossflow of knowledge between the science and engineering disciplines that span materials invention to implementation. The Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) structure at the University has been designed to facilitate this crossflow, while simultaneously providing a focal point for materials.

The institute has four independent elements that provide the graduate experience and it is the synergism between these that makes the Princeton materials program unique. In addition to the interdisciplinary academic programs, the institute houses comprehensive facilities used for the materials research activities. These facilities acquaint students with advanced methodologies for fabricating, probing, testing, and analyzing materials, and for computation. PRISM is also a focal point for multi-investigator research initiatives in materials that integrate materials research, education, and outreach across the Princeton campus. This includes the Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM), a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) funded by the National Science Foundation. Moreover, PRISM provides the major connection with industry through outreach activity that offers mutual benefits to students and those industries at the leading edge of materials technology.

Students can direct their inquiries to the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, 321 Bowen Hall, 70 Prospect Avenue, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540. The interdepartmental committee can help match students’ interests with the most appropriate department and faculty members. Financial support is available through a variety of fellowships, teaching assistantships, and research assistantships, funded both by federal agencies and private industry.

Program in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE)

An interdisciplinary graduate program in materials integrates basic concepts with fundamental elements of engineering and science. This is accomplished by interweaving the resources of PRISM with those of seven affiliated departments in engineering (chemical, civil and environmental, electrical, and mechanical and aerospace, ) and natural science (applied and computational mathematics, chemistry, and physics). Students are admitted by one of the affiliated departments. The curriculum is designed to meet the degree requirements of the department, while providing a comprehensive education in the principles of materials science. To that end, four categories of courses are offered:

1. An overview course in materials. This course (MSE 501) is for graduate students seeking a single course that provides a broad perspective of the field, as well as for undergraduates in the materials certificate program.

2. Core graduate courses in materials. Several of these courses would be taken by graduate students who elect the materials option within their affiliated department. This core represents essential elements of major graduate-level education in materials and includes MSE 502 through 505.

3. Electives related to the home department and technical interests. Another group of courses addresses the synthesis, fabrication, and processing as well as the properties of different material categories (ceramic, electronic, photonic, polymeric, and structural). These courses would be selected by students taking the materials option, but they would be specifically oriented to students’ home departments and their technical interests. These courses are MSE 510 through 517 (properties) and MSE 530 through 534 (processing).

4. Materials-related courses offered by affiliated departments. These courses have been devised with content that completes the curriculum for materials students. They are electives for materials, but they may be required in some departments.

Courses

MSE 501 Introduction to Materials (also MAE 561)

George Scherer

Emphasizes the connection between microstructural features of materials and their properties, and how processing conditions control structure. Topics include atomic bonding, crystal structure, thermodynamics, phase diagrams, defects, microstructure, diffusion, phase transformations, nucleation, coarsening, glasses, elastic and plastic deformation, fracture, processing, composites, and electronic properties.

MSE 502 Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Materials (also MAE 566)

Mikko Haataja

Thermodynamics and kinetics applicable to phase changes and processing in a broad range of materials (metals, oxides, polymers, colloids, gels, surfactants). Phase equilibrium (including effects of curvature), nucleation, crystallization, phase separation, diffusion in liquids and solids, colloidal stability, flocculation and gelation, glass transition.

MSE 503 Structure of Materials

Robert J. Cava, Henny Zandbergen

Structure of ionic solids, intermetallics, polymers, quasicrystals, and glasses; defects in crystals, symmetry of periodic solids as a framework for understanding and determining crystal structures, structural analysis using diffraction and scattering of X rays and neutrons, electron diffraction, high-resolution electron imaging, scanning-probe microscopies.

MSE 504 Modeling and Simulation in Materials Science (also MAE 563)

Roberto Car

Examines methods for simulating materials on the electronic, atomistic, microstructural, and continuum scales, and approaches for connecting across length scales. The scientific underpinnings of each is emphasized. Hands-on experience in writing and/or exercising simulation codes on all scales is provided.

MSE 505 Characterization of Materials

Nan Yao, Henny Zandbergen

A multidisciplinary course offering a practical introduction to techniques of imaging, and compositional analysis of advanced materials. Focus on principles and applications of various microscopy methods. Topics include AFM, SEM, TEM, EDX/WDX, EELS, sample preparation and images processes, etc. Hands-on experience is emphasized.

MSE 509, 520 Topics in Physical Chemistry (see CHM 509, 510)

MSE 510 Electronic Materials (see ELE 541)

MSE 512 Structural Materials (also MAE 564)

Winston O. Soboyejo

Stress/strain behavior of materials; dislocation theory and strengthening mechanisms; yield strength; materials selection. Fundamentals of plasticity, Tresca and Von Mises yield criteria. Case study on forging: upper and lower bounds. Basic elements of fracture. Fracture mechanics. Mechanisms of fracture. The fracture toughness. Case studies and design. Fatigue mechanisms and life-prediction methodologies.

MSE 513 The Chemistry and Physics of Nanomaterials (also CHM 511)

Steven Bernasek, Giacinto Scoles

The first part of the course contains fundamental chemical concepts and basic ideas needed to calculate the difference between the bulk properties of matter and the properties of aggregates. The second describes the tools needed to probe matter at the nanoscale level. The third discusses examples of nanoscale materials (clusters, monolayers, fullerenes, biomolecules) and their applications.

MSE 514 Solid-State Properties of Polymers (see CHE 544)

MSE 515 Random Heterogeneous Materials (also APC 515, CEE 524)

Salvatore Torquato

Composites, porous media, foams, colloidal suspensions, geological media, polymer blends, and biological media are all examples of heterogeneous materials. Often the microstructure of such materials is random. The relationship between the macroscopic (transport, mechanical, electromagnetic, and chemical) properties and microstructure of random heterogeneous materials is formulated. Topics include statistical characterization of the microstructure via n-point distribution functions; percolation theory; fractal concepts; sphere packings; Monte Carlo simulation techniques; image analysis of microstructure; homogenization theory; effective-medium theories; cluster and perturbation expansions; variational bounding techniques; topology optimization methods; and cross-property relations.

MSE 516, 517 Introduction to Condensed-Matter Physics (see PHY 525, 526)

MSE 520 Topics in Physical Chemistry (see CHM 509, 510)

MSE 530 Synthesis and Processing of Ceramic Matrix Composites (see CHE 531)

MSE 531 Introduction to Nano/Microfabrication (see ELE 513)

The following departmental courses, in many instances offered by faculty affiliated with PRISM, are cross-listed with PRISM to indicate their substantial materials science content.

MSE 532 Organic Materials for Photonics and Electronics (see ELE 540)

MSE 533 Physics and Technology of VLSI (see ELE 549)

MSE 534 Polymer Synthesis (see CHE 541)

MSE 540 Fracture Mechanics (see MAE 562)

MSE 541 Physics and Chemistry of Minerals and Materials (see GEO 501)

MSE 544 Solid-State Properties of Polymers (see CHE 544)

MSE 553 Nonlinear Optics (see ELE 553)

Pertinent Courses in Allied Departments

Chemical Engineering

415 Polymers

522 Colloidal Dispersions I

523 Colloidal Dispersions II

532 Interfacial Science and Engineering

536 Glasses and Supercooled Liquids

543 Solution Properties of Polymers

Chemistry

503 Introduction to Statistical Mechanics

507 Solid-State Chemistry

522 Advanced Inorganic Chemistry

523 Coordination Chemistry

539 Introduction to Chemical Instrumentation

542 Principles of Macromolecular Structure

Civil and Environmental Engineering

521 Continuum Mechanics

523 Mechanics of Dissipative Media

531 Elastodynamics

Electrical Engineering

441, 442 Solid-State Physics I and II

542 Surface Properties of Electronically Active Solids

543 Transport Processes in Solids

544 Physics and Technology of Heterojunctions

545 Electronic Devices

546 Optical Properties of Solids

547, 548 Selected Topics in Solid-State Electronics

551 Theory and Application of Photonic Devices

Geosciences

507, 508 Topics in Mineralogy and Mineral Physics

543 Rock Fracture

557 Theoretical Geophysics

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

521 Optics and Lasers

522 Application of Quantum Mechanics to Spectroscopy and Lasers

Molecular Biology

437 Computational Neurobiology and Computing Networks

504 Cellular Biochemistry

514 Biological Dynamics

515 Method and Logic in Quantitative Biology

551 Introduction to Computational Molecular Biology

Operations Research and Financial Engineering

524 Statistical Theory and Methods

526 Stochastic Modeling

551 Probability Theory

Physics

511 Thermodynamics, Kinetic Theory, and Statistical Mechanics

557 Electronic Methods in Experimental Physics

561, 562 Biophysics