About Department
History
The department was first established as the Department of Mining and Metallurgy in 1886, at the same time as the School of Engineering of the University of Tokyo was founded as the Technical College of the Imperial University. The department was one of seven engineering departments forming the first College. To remain at the forefront of the rapidly evolving materials science and engineering world, the department has been recognized and reformed several times. In the most recent reorganization, the Departments of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science merged into the Department of Materials Engineering in 1999 at the undergraduate level and in 2002 at the graduate level.
Concept of the Department
The Department is known by the world’s class activity of education and research on materials. Throughout the history of the department, it has been the Japanese leader in materials science and engineering education and research. Not only the faculties and staffs but also a number of graduates from the department have taken on important roles throughout industry and academia. The department grew out of the studies of metallurgy and mining, and then it had become keenly aware that materials engineering was becoming a key node in the integration of various fields based on research of metals, ceramics, polymers, semiconductors, and so forth. Current researches in the department span the entire aspects including design, processing, utilization, and recycling of materials. The concept of state-of-the-art materials engineering is symbolized by its trademark logo of “Design of / for / with Materials.” At present, the department has ~50 faculty members (Professors, Associate Professors, and Lecturers), including those belonging to the Institute of Engineering Innovation, the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, the Institute of Industrial Science, the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. In 2022, the department has X junior and senior undergraduates and X graduate students (X masters and X doctoral). Among them, X are international students.
Undergraduate Study
3 Course System
Nowadays, the originality of Japan is strongly needed in various fields. The leaders in the next generation should experience an environment that creates new things with new ideas and new methods. To foster the leaders in the next generation, we are offering three courses. The three courses make it easy for students to look into the future.
- A: Biomaterial Course
- This is a course to learn about biomaterials that protect our lives and health, such as artificial organs that replace lost body functions and nanomedicines (or drug delivery systems) that carry drugs only to the target area with reduced side effects. As a basis for creating new biomaterials, in addition to various materials science and physicochemical characterization methods, we also cover life sciences, such as cell biology and biointerface science. Through these, we will acquire the foundation to take on the challenge of creating biomaterials that will contribute to the innovative development of medical technology.
- B: Ecomaterial Course
- This is a course to learn about structural materials by keeping the environment, which is the most important theme of the 21st century. The target materials range from metals, ceramics, semiconductors, and organic materials, which are the most widely used and constantly innovating. The knowledge learned in this course is needed in a wide range of material designs for automobiles, aircrafts, large buildings, fuel cells, and high-strength material development under controlling on an atomic scale.
- C: Nanomaterial Course
- This is a course to learn about high-performance nanomaterials controlled on a nanometer scale, which is the key to the development of high-performance devices that support the information-oriented society. Highly designed and controlled nanomaterials at the atomic and molecular levels realize completely new functions that were not possible in the past. Nanomaterials are now the new base for all functional devices, and are areas that would not be possible without the knowledge covering semiconductors, metals, ceramics, and organic materials.
Graduate Study
Graduate studies at our department cover a wide variety of materials, material processing, and fabrication of devices, structures, and systems using the materials. Through the studies and research, the basis of materials science and engineering is strengthened and professional background as a material scientist and engineer is developed. We welcome the application to graduate study course of our department. Those who want to enter the graduate school in spring or autumn need to submit the application in July and take the entrance examination in August and September, in principle.
