•  Program Overview
•  Contemporary Materials
•  Role of PRISM
•  Capabilities & Faculty Expertise
•  Related Centers/Industrial Links
•  Facilities
•  Curriculum
•  Graduate Courses
•  General Requirements
•  Departmental Courses of Study
•  Admissions
•  PRISM Faculty
  

Opportunities for students wishing to pursue a graduate education in materials are now available at Princeton University. An interdisciplinary Ph.D. program, the Graduate Program in Materials, allows students to pursue materials-related research and education in coordination with engineering and science departments affiliated with the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials. In addition to the resources of the institute and the affiliated departments, the program draws upon the resources of industrial affiliates as well as other materials-oriented research centers within the University. The breadth and flexibility of the program accommodates a wide range of interests and gives students both the theoretical foundation and practical knowledge they need to function in the rapidly developing field of modern materials.

The objective of the new interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Materials is to offer educational themes that integrate basic concepts in materials with fundamental elements of engineering and science. This is accomplished by interweaving the resources of the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) with those of seven departments affiliated with PRISM.

The curriculum is devised in accordance with major elements of materials appropriate to that department. For example, students entering the PRISM/Chemical Engineering materials program would normally have strongest interest in the synthesis, fabrication, and processing of polymers, ceramics, biomaterials, and their derivatives. Typical programs are outlined in the Curriculum section.

There are multiple levels of faculty involvement with PRISM. Some faculty members have joint appointments in PRISM and academic departments. This group has primary responsibility for the academic program, as well as key elements of the research, facilities development, and outreach. Brief Resumes of these faculty members, as well as their expertise as it connects with PRISM goals and mandates, are included in the faculty section.

Dramatic changes have occurred in the field of materials within the last decade. Formerly, the scope of the field and its intellectual core comprised the invention of new materials, their processing and microstructure, and the development of a mechanistic understanding of their properties.

Today, this scope represents necessary but insufficient knowledge, because system requirements and affordability motivate and constrain the role of materials. This change is reflected in the Princeton materials program, which affords a broadly based appreciation for engineering and economic imperatives in addition to providing a rigorous scientific foundation.

Modern materials development has become a continuum from the synthesis of new materials to the demonstration of performance benefits upon incorporation in a device, a component, or a system, at acceptable cost.

The principles governing materials design and synthesis emanate primarily from chemistry, physics, and biology, whereas implementation and performance issues are addressed in engineering. Accordingly, it is imperative that there be unimpeded crossflow of knowledge between the science and engineering disciplines that span materials invention to implementation. The Materials Institute structure at Princeton has been designed to facilitate this crossflow, while simultaneously providing a focal point for materials.

The Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials provides an environment that allows students the opportunity to gain the knowledge needed to function in a modern, multifaceted setting.

The Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials has four independent elements that provide the graduate experience. It is the synergism between these four elements 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 Science and Engineering Research Center funded by the National Science Foundation.

Moreover, it 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.

The faculty involved in PRISM as well as the academic program have been assembled in accordance with four basic capabilities:

Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials houses several multidisciplinary research activities. The largest of these is the Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM), which is one of the National Science Foundation funded Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSEC), with thrusts in low-dimensional electronic materials, organic quantum structures, self-assembled functional organics, and bioinspired composites. Additionally, there are several Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) programs concerned with mesoscale electro-mechanical devices and multifunctional cellular materials, as well as multilayer systems and their adhesion.

This Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSEC) funded by the National Science Foundation seeks to create and understand materials having complex mesostructures that generate unique properties applicable to communications, electronic/photonic devices, active structural elements, biomaterials, and specialty chemicals. Utilization of complex materials requires fundamental understanding gained through multidisciplinary collaborations among those involved in synthesis and fabrication, structure-property relations, and devices or structures.

There are four Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs). Each has scientific and technological objectives dealing with materials that span from purely inorganic to wholly organic. The participants synthesize mesoscopically structured materials by means of diverse routes: solid-state inorganic, bioorganic, anionic; molecular beam epitaxy, deposition from the vapor phase; self-assembly with amphiphilic molecules. Each strives for fundamental understanding of the relationships between mesoscopic structure and macroscopic properties with the goal of creating and rationally designing materials for technological purposes.

IRG 1 Combines world-class capability for synthesizing heterojunctions and novel inorganic materials with distinction in theoretical physics and electron transport measurements. Their research addresses novel properties of strongly correlated and disordered electronic materials with application to semiconductor structures.

IRG 2 Addresses organic thin films with promise for photonic devices by using powerful characterization tools and strength in physical and organic chemistry. They are poised to create advanced photonic devices and materials based on controlled growth, at the monolayer level, of semiconducting films via vacuum techniques.

IRG 3 Assembled expertise in polymers, colloids, and interfacial films with fundamental knowledge of soft condensed matter. Their emphasis is on the assembly of ordered organic solids and disordered associated solutions by controlling the architecture of amphilphiles.

IRG 4 Focuses on fabrication of inorganic-organic composites with lamellar structures, complementing particular strengths in bioorganic chemistry and property optimization with unique skills and insights in ceramics. The strategy is to mimic biogenic hard materials by approaches ranging from purely self-assembly through various levels of directed assembly.

Facilities

Graduate studies and research in materials is vitally dependent on major facilities for synthesizing, fabricating, characterizing, measuring properties, and for computing. A network of such facilities exists at Princeton, with PRISM as the focal point. All of the major instrumentation needed for research in advanced materials is available.

The Imaging and Analysis Center and the Computational Center are two prominent facilities for use by students and faculty. The former has been in existence since 1993, while the latter is under development. Beyond these centers, there are several key laboratories. One of these is for thermomechanical measurements. It comprises servohydraulic testing machines, as well as in situ loading capabilities within scanning electron and atomic force microscopes. There is a laboratory for optical force measurements (optical tweezers), another for ceramic fabrication, and one for packaging of photonic devices.

Imaging and Analysis Center (IAC)

The IAC, located on the first floor of Bowen Hall, is an advanced materials research and characterization facility. Over 80 Princeton faculty, research scientists, and students use the center on a regular basis. Students are trained to use the instruments and to learn the fundamental principles and practices of experimental techniques used in materials research.

Short courses are offered to graduate students and research scientists on transmission and scanning electron microscopy techniques, emphasizing hands-on experience and the interpretation of images. Included in the facility are the following:

• Electron Microprobe
• Field emission TEM
• Field emission SEM
• Atomic force microscopes
• UHV scanning probe microscope

Micro/Nano Fabrication Laboratory

This 3,000-square-foot clean room is used for the microfabrication of semiconductor and MEMS devices. Substrate sizes range up to six-inch diameter, and lithographic capabilities range from micron-scale features by contact lithography down to 100 nanometer (nm) features by electron beam lithography. A special strength of the lab is its ability to handle a wide variety of substrates, from the usual III-V and silicon semiconductor substrates, to the more unusual glass and metal and plastic foils used in novel display projects. The lab has a complete range of thin-film formation techniques available, such as plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, thermal and electron-beam evaporators, sputterers, and high-temperature diffusion and oxidation. Another strength of the lab is pattern transfer by plasma and reactive ion etching, with four reactors dedicated to etching a wide range of thin films.

The curriculum has been designed to operate at four different levels. These allow flexibility for a wide range of interests among graduate students wishing to pursue materials. This flexibility is needed since all students will have their degree programs established within affiliated departments. The four levels comprise:

Students entering the program will follow an academic path consistent with the nature of the chosen affiliated department, each of which has a materials emphasis. The program of study is relatively flexible and tailored to individual goals upon discussion with faculty mentors from PRISM and the affiliated department. In all cases, a general or qualifying examination must be taken before the end of the third semester. It will be based on a general body of knowledge in aspects of materials and on a materials curriculum set by each department. The details are department-specific. For example, students engaged in a structural materials pathway within the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering will be expected to have knowledge related to 502-504, 509, 512, as well as a knowledge of solid mechanics.

Students are encouraged to have two thesis advisors, at least one with an appointment in the institute. Additional advisors are encouraged in order to broaden the student's intellectual scope. The research culminates in a thesis. Students select thesis topics in consultation with the faculty. The faculty evaluate the thesis, and the student finishes the Ph.D. requirements by defending the thesis research in a public forum.

Departmental Courses of Study

Materials in Chemical Engineering
The goal of understanding the fundamental behavior of materials and using this knowledge to design materials with tailored functionality drives materials-related research in chemical engineering. The research spans a vast spectrum of materials, from "hard" materials (ceramics, sol-gel materials) to "soft" ones (polymers, colloidal dispersions, molecular coatings), with potential applications ranging from implants in the human body to affordable high-strength composites. Activities range from basic materials synthesis (polymers, high-temperature superconductors) to the study of fundamental phenomena (rheology of complex fluids, structure-property relationships in solids) to materials processing and the fabrication of prototype devices (synthetic bone, hierarchically structured laminates). Chemical engineering principles of thermodynamics, transport phenomena, and reaction engineering typically underpin these ongoing projects, augmented by knowledge of structural characterization techniques, modeling and simulation, and fabrication technology. Between the Department of Chemical Engineering and PRISM, we have outstanding facilities for structural characterization of materials, both in real space (TEM, SEM, AFM) and reciprocal space (X-ray, light, and electron diffraction); for the rheological and rheo-optical characterization of complex fluids useful in materials processing; and for device prototyping.
Typical program: Thermodynamics Transport phenomena Kinetics and reaction engineering Applied mathematics Materials characterization Processing of advanced materials	Selected courses from following areas: Modeling and simulation Structural materials Synthesis and processing of ceramics Polymer synthesis, structure, and properties Colloidal dispersions Solid and liquid interfaces

Materials in Chemistry
Chemistry and materials go hand-in-hand in many ways, and materials chemistry is presently one of the most vital and expanding areas in research and education. Truly interdisciplinary research is essential for progress in this area, with the resulting discoveries and insights that such an interdisciplinary approach in science often yields. Research in academic, industrial, and government institutions is directed towards answering fundamental questions in chemistry that may lead to new materials, the application of chemical and materials knowledge for improving the performance of devices and systems, and making possible the technologies and processes of the future. Materials-related research in chemistry at Princeton encompasses many of the diverse new paths this type of research presently embodies. Our program ranges from theoretical, through basic science, to more applied areas. Research in theoretical materials chemistry includes, for example, the molecular dynamics simulation of materials properties and the electronic structure theory of surfaces, molecular crystals, and conjugated polymers. There are a wide variety of opportunities to conduct research on materials surfaces, including the study of the adsorption and spectroscopy of molecules and chemical reactions on transition-metal surfaces, and the synthesis and characterization of oxide-supported organometallic complexes. There are also research efforts in the assembly of biogenic hard materials, photochemical energy conversion, solar energy conversion and electrochemistry, the synthesis and characterization of solids with exotic electronic and magnetic properties, optoelectronic properties of organic thin films. The materials chemistry program at Princeton provides a unique interdisciplinary opportunity for students to pursue their interests in this rapidly advancing field. Students may tailor their program by combining different aspects of education and research in materials and chemistry and other areas such as electronics, physics, or biology to create their own interdisciplinary specialty.
Typical program: Thermodynamics and kinetics of materials Structure of materials Modeling and simulation in materials science Advanced inorganic, organic, or organometallic chemistry Quantum chemistry, spectroscopy, or chemical kinetics	Selected courses from following areas: Electronic materials Biomaterials Nanomaterials Catalytic chemistry Polymers Photonic materials Solid-state physic

Materials in Civil & Environmental Engineering
The materials of greatest interest in civil and environmental engineering: concrete, stone, and soil, are porous and extremely heterogeneous composites. Therefore, our research efforts are concentrated in four areas: 1) theoretically relating physical properties of composites to their structure and composition; 2) modifying the composition and processing of materials to improve their durability and strength; 3) modeling and measuring transport of fluids in porous media to understand stability of soil, movement of pollutants, and resistance of stone and concrete to environmental attack (for example, by frost, salt, and acid rain); 4) large-scale computation for analysis of fluid flow and inelastic deformation in heterogeneous media. A major goal of our research is to understand and prevent deterioration of porous materials. Fundamental research addresses the mechanisms by which environmental agents (such as ice) invade porous materials, exert stresses, and initiate cracking. The resulting insight guides the development of improved materials and processing methods and of techniques for preserving or restoring existing structures. A closely related problem is the conservation of art, including sculpture and ancient monuments. In collaboration with conservators in museums and universities here and abroad, materials and methods are being developed for treatment of damaged stone and masonry. The academic program is flexible so that students can acquire depth in thesis-related areas (such as mechanics or thermodynamics), while meeting general requirements in mathematics and materials.
Typical program: Introduction to materials Thermodynamics and kinetics Structure and analysis Structural materials Modeling and simulation Solid mechanics Applied mathematics	Selected courses from following areas: Heterogeneous media Numerical methods

Materials in Electrical Engineering
Materials-related research in electrical engineering is predominantly centered on semiconductors. Research in the electronic materials and devices group and the optical and optoelectronic engineering group includes fundamental electronic and structural properties of organic and inorganic semiconductors, crystalline and amorphous semiconductors, new technologies for fabricating nanostructures and for printing large area circuits, and advanced devices for opto- and microelectronics. An extremely wide variety of materials is being researched, spanning from crystalline to amorphous elemental semiconductors and alloys (Si, SiGe, SiGeC), III-V to II-VI compound semiconductors (Ga-, Al- and In- arsenides and nitrides, ZnSe), small molecule to polymer organics, and magnetic materials. Applications and areas of research include the control, or intelligent use, of epitaxy of lattice mismatched materials to create novel structures, device engineering and nanostructure devices for ultrafast electronics, and high-capacity storage; macroelectronics for inexpensive, large area backplane electronics and displays; solar power; light-emitting devices; optoelectronic integrated circuits; and experimental and theoretical aspects of solid-state physics. The materials-related facilities comprise several clean rooms, specialized growth laboratories (several III-V and organic MBEs, chemical vapor deposition), device fabrication laboratories (e-beam-, photo- and nanoimprint lithography, etchers, and evaporators), materials analysis laboratories (surface/interface spectroscopies), and microscopy laboratories (SEM, STM, AFM).
Typical program: Introduction to materials Thermodynamics and kinetics Structure and analysis Modeling and simulation Electronic materials Photonic materials Condensed-matter physics Applied mathematic	Selected courses from following areas: VLSI fabrication Nano/Microfabrication

Materials in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
The overarching emphasis of the activity in mechanical and aerospace engineering is on materials in thermostructural systems. Application areas include aerospace, power generation, propulsion, automotive, robotics, and power electronics. The materials comprise ceramics, metals, intermetallics, polymers and their composites, which are important because of their light weight, ability to withstand high temperature, heat-dissipation qualities, and tribology. They include performance-enhancing films, multilayers, and coatings of materials such as diamond, oxides, nitrides, carbides, and so on. They embrace ferroelectric and ferromagnetic materials that facilitate the design and implementation of smart systems. Studies of the mechanical, thermal, and acoustic behavior of these materials represent a major educational and research emphasis and include deformation, fracture, fatigue, thermal conduction, adhesion, actuation, and sound absorption. Fabrication and processing, especially their intelligent control through modeling, simulation, and sensor integration, are of comparable interest. System requirements dictated by affordability considerations provide the motivation for the program. These systems include ultralight structures made from cellular metals; thermal protection concepts for high-temperature components and systems; heat dissipation by means of micro heatpipes, jets, and phase change materials; integrated micromaterial structures such as electronic circuits and microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS).
Typical program: Introduction to materials Thermodynamics and kinetics Structure and analysis Modeling and simulation Applied mathematics	Selected courses from following areas: Applied physics and materials Combustion and fluid mechanics Dynamics and control

Application for Admission

Students are admitted by individual departments for study toward the degree of doctor of philosophy and must fulfill all departmental requirements for the appropriate degree. To obtain information interested students have two options. They can write directly to the department of choice (chemical engineering, chemistry, civil and environmental engineering, electrical engineering, or mechanical and aerospace engineering) indicating their interest in materials.

Alternatively, they can direct inquiries to the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, Bowen Hall, 70 Prospect Avenue, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-5211,.

Please direct all questions to
Mary Monahan
609-258-6704
mmonahan@Princeton.edu
Princeton University
321 Bowen Hall
Princeton, NJ 08540