View From Outside the University: Industry Speaks

Christos D. Dimitrakopoulos
IBM Research

Before attempting to address the question of how best to prepare Materials Science and Engineering students for a successful career in industry, one has to first identify the industrial sectors that constitute the most common employment destinations for graduates in this field of study.

In a unique treatise based on a survey conducted by The Career Resource Center (CRC) for Materials Science and Engineering , V. Koebnick and G. L. Liedl address the question of what do Materials Science and Engineering graduates really do after they get their degree(s) in this field. We will use their findings as a guide in our attempt to provide feedback from the industry side to the academic institutions responsible for the education of future Materials Science and Engineers. This survey focused on the people with degrees in the field of Materials Science and Engineering rather than people who work in the field of Materials Science and Engineering. This is an important distinction with respect to surveys of people working in the field, since such surveys cover people with formal education from many disciplines and encompass far more people than those that graduated with degrees in the field of Materials Science and Engineering. According to the CRC survey, the career paths of Materials Scientists and Engineers span a wide spectrum of industries and job functions. A quarter of those surveyed were in occupations not closely related to the field of Materials Science and Engineering. Their jobs belonged to a wide spectrum of fields with business related activities including self-employment or small business ownership being the most frequently noted work activity. This information shows that an education in materials can be used as a springboard into a wide array of fields and work activities. With regards to the industrial sector, a bout one third of the Materials Science and Engineering graduates (34%), start their careers in the primary materials producing industries with metals type industries being the largest employer at around 22%. The manufacturing industries occupy a similar fraction (35%), with less than a third being employed across a range of service and other types of industries. As far as job functions are concerned, the study shows that the majority of Materials Science and Engineering graduates (78% of them) take jobs in production and research/development (R&D) for their first employment position. This percentage declines to about 50% by the fourth position. By that time 20% of the total are working in management related jobs and 17% in sales/service type of jobs.

Materials Science and Engineering graduates working in their field of study can also have their jobs classified by the type of material that is the focus of their job. Such a list includes metals, ceramics, polymers, semiconductors and other electronic materials (both organic and inorganic), bio-materials, etc.

Due to the very wide variety of materials and their applications, the study of materials must encompass a wide spectrum of courses spanning many disciplines of science and engineering. Broadness however should not come at the expense of in-depth , knowledge of one or more particular classes of materials. A successful materials curriculum must abide by these requirements in order to produce graduates with high potential for success in today's industries.

In the contemporary team-oriented industrial work environment, a particular characteristic of many industrial jobs occupied by materials scientists and engineers is the requirement for interdisciplinary collaborations. No other scientist or engineer could/should be better prepared to address this requirement than a materials scientist and engineer. Ability to work across disciplinary barriers is a characteristic inherent to the concept materials science. The materials scientist/engineer has to speak the “languages” of the various science and engineering disciplines and play the role of the “translator” or more broadly be the interconnecting link of the team. Materials science itself lies in the middle of other formal science and engineering disciplines and covers common areas with each one of them, in a way playing the role of a “multidisciplinary” bridge. This characteristic, should be very strongly reflected in any comprehensive materials science program for it to be - or continue to be in the future – successful. Such a program should aim initially at creating a solid educational grounding in the fundamental principles common to all materials (structure, thermodynamics, kinetics, mechanical and photoelectronic properties) before focusing in research in a more specialized materials field. Courses should span many relevant departments or schools, and occasionally common interdepartmental course offerings should be targeted to materials scientists and engineers.

Due to the progress and new developments in science and engineering, Materials Science and Engineering curricula should be reviewed and renewed at regular intervals, to cover new areas under development, initially by introducing new courses as an elective, specialized area of study that can later be introduced in the core curriculum, depending on the magnitude of the impact of the new development to the industry.

Thus, the requirements for a degree in Materials Science and Engineering should be designed with continuous feedback from the industry and the job market in general. One of the most effective ways to create such feedback is to channel it through the students themselves. Summer internships and on-site collaborations with industrial partners can have tremendous impact on the careers of prospective materials scientists and engineers, and should be pursued with determination. Besides providing a realistic perspective on one's field of study, the beginning of professional networking and invaluable work experience that enhances the student's knowledge and the appeal of his/her resume, it can also provide important information about working in an industrial setting. Whenever possible the academic institutions should provide a framework of relations with industry that ensure - or at minimum assist – the placement of the students in appropriate summer internship jobs with the industry. Industry should be a willing collaborator and summer employer, due to the need to develop and attract talented materials science students. Besides, summer intern contributions can often be pretty valuable provided that the students are entrusted and the appropriate project opportunities are available. Therefore, practical work experience should be a requirement of a degree in Materials Science and Engineering.

Materials Science and Engineering students should also be encouraged to take general introductory courses in business and economics, since a major percentage of them will end up having jobs that include business related activities, management or own their own businesses.