Graduate Student Affairs Office
114 Rockwell Engineering Center; (714) 824-6475
William Schmitendorf, Associate Dean
For information on requirements for admission to graduate study at UCI, contact the appropriate Engineering department or the Graduate Affairs Office in the School of Engineering. Additional information is available in the Catalogue section entitled Research and Graduate Studies. Admission to graduate standing in the School of Engineering is generally accorded those possessing a B.S. degree in engineering or an allied field obtained with an acceptable level of scholarship from an institution of recognized standing. Those seeking admission without the prerequisite scholarship record may, in some rare cases, undertake remedial work; if completed at the stipulated academic level, they will be admitted to full graduate standing. Those admitted from an allied field may be required to take supplementary upper-division courses in basic engineering subjects. The Graduate Record Examination General Test is required of all applicants.
Teaching assistantships and fellowships are available to qualified applicants (who should contact the Department to which they are applying for information). Research assistantships are available through individual faculty members. It is beneficial for applicants to contact the faculty member directly to establish the potential for research support. Early applications have a superior chance for financial support.
Those students who are employed may pursue the M.S. degree on a part-time basis, carrying fewer units per quarter. Since University residence requirements necessitate the successful completion of a minimum number of units in graduate or upper-division work in each of at least three regular University quarters, part-time students should seek the advice of the graduate counselor in the School of Engineering and the approval of the chair of their program. M.S. programs must be completed in four calendar years from the date of admission. Students taking courses in University Extension should consult the section on Transfer of Courses below.
Upon petition, a limited number of graduate-level courses taken through University Extension, on another campus of the University, or in another accredited university may be credited toward the M.S. degree after admission. With the exception of work undertaken in another graduate division of the University of California, transfer credit will not be applied to the minimum required units in
200-series courses.
Specific information about program requirements can be found in the departmental sections.
Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Concentration in Computer Engineering
Concentration in Electrical Engineering
Concentration in Environmental Engineering
Concentration in Materials Science and Engineering
Concentration in Protein Engineering
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
114D Rockwell Engineering Center; (714) 824-7188
Terese M. Olson, Director
Faculty
Constantinos V. Chrysikopoulos: Subsurface solute transport, nonaqueous phase liquid dissolution in porous media, mathematical modeling
Donald Dabdub: Mathematical modeling of air pollution dynamics, parallel computing applied to environmental problems
Nancy A. DaSilva: Bioremediation, genetic engineering
Derek Dunn-Rankin: Combustion pollutants, incineration, aerosol inhalation and deposition
Carl A. Friehe: Boundary-layer meteorology, atmospheric turbulence, air-sea energy exchange
Stanley B. Grant: Environmental microbiology, biocolloid stability and transport, molecular biotechnology
Gary L. Guymon: Water resources, mathematical modeling, geohydrology
Juan Hong: Separation processes, bioremediation, bioreactor analysis
Henry C. Lim: Bioreactor control optimization, genetic engineering, bioremediation
Terese M. Olson: Environmental aquatic chemistry, colloid chemistry, chemical kinetics, water treatment
Scott Samuelsen: Combustion, pollutant formation, energy efficiency and utilization, air quality, environmental ethics
Jan Scherfig: Biological treatment, water reclamation and reuse, waste treatment
Roland Schinzinger: Electric energy systems
William A. Sirignano: Combustion, pollutant formation, fire spread, noise suppression
Thomas K. Wood: Bioremediation of chlorinated aliphatics and aromatics using both natural and genetically engineered microorganisms, biological reactors for site remediation
Environmental Engineering addresses the development of strategies to control anthropogenic emissions of pollutants to the atmosphere, waterways, and terrestrial environment; the remediation of polluted natural systems; the design of technologies to treat waste; fire safety; noise suppression; energy efficiency; and the evaluation of contaminant fate in urban environments. Environmental engineering issues are now an important component in the development of many engineering technologies and consequently are an important aspect of an engineering education. The discipline itself is interdisciplinary and requires a curriculum that provides students with an understanding of fundamentals in air- and water-quality sciences, contaminant fate and transport, and design concepts for pollutant emission control and treatment. To avoid the development of environmental engineering solutions which only transform one form of pollution to another, modern engineering education programs must require exposure and familiarity with a greater number of subjects than ever before.
Environmental engineers with an interdisciplinary background are particularly sought to address the complex infrastructure needs of today's society, where they must be able to communicate with teams of scientists and engineers from different disciplines. Environmental engineering graduates who meet this description can expect to remain in strong demand in the private and public employment sectors, and their range of career opportunities is highly diverse. Examples of career fields and activities include the development of new technologies to genetically engineer microorganisms for waste treatment, design of combustion and control processes that minimize pollutant emissions and maximize energy efficiency, resolution of complex pollutant transport processes in naturally heterogeneous systems, development of new physical-chemical treatment approaches, and characterization of pollutant transformation mechanisms in natural systems.
Curricular and research subjects of interest in Environmental Engineering include environmental air and water chemistry, environmental microbiology, combustion technologies, aerosol science, transport phenomena, reactor theory, unit operations and systems design, mathematical modeling, energy systems, soil physics, fluid mechanics, hydrology, and meteorology. Interdisciplinary research endeavors commonly bridge many of these different subjects and a current focus is maintained on new and emerging technologies. Curriculum objectives have also been set to maintain a balance between the depth and breadth of program scope for each student.
Programs of study leading to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering are offered.
Required Background
The interdisciplinary nature of the program allows students with a variety of backgrounds to undertake studies in this field. Students with a background in engineering--particularly chemical, civil, environmental, and mechanical engineering--as well as scientists from biology, chemistry, environmental science, and physics, are encouraged to participate.
Students admitted to the program are expected to have had rigorous undergraduate exposure to a number of relevant subject areas including air quality, environmental chemistry, fluid mechanics, microbial processes, and reactor theory and design. The degree to which each student meets the program's background requirement is determined by participating faculty at the time of admission. Students with an insufficient background who are offered admission will be required to take a set of appropriate prerequisite courses. Prerequisite work typically involves at least two and frequently as many as five or six upper-division, undergraduate courses each of which must be completed with a final grade of B or better. Occasionally, lower-division work in chemistry, mathematics, or physics is required. The student's specific prerequisite course work requirement, if any, is stated the letter of admission.
The background requirement establishes a common foundation for graduate study in the program. Not all students are required to take prerequisite course work; those who are may do so following matriculation in the graduate program. In addition, M.S. students may use a limited amount of upper-division course work taken to meet the background requirement in partial fulfillment of graduate degree requirements.
Although this list is not exhaustive, commonly required prerequisite courses within each of the required background areas are as follows:
Air Quality: Engineering MAE110, MAE162, or MAE164
Environmental Chemistry: Engineering CEE164 and 164L
Environmental Microbiology: Engineering CEE166 or ChE165
Fluid Mechanics: Engineering CEE170A, ChE120A, or MAE130A
Reactor Theory and Design: Engineering ChE160
Core Requirement
Students must complete an advanced mathematics course, either Engineering CBE220 (Applied Chemical Engineering Mathematics), CEE283 (Mathematical Methods in Engineering Analysis), or MAE200B (Engineering Analysis II).
Areas of Emphasis
Each student selects a primary area of emphasis within Environmental Engineering: Water Quality, Water Resources, or Air Quality and Combustion. To achieve the interdisciplinary objectives of the program, students are required to take at least two electives outside their primary area, one each in two different areas. These outside electives may also be taken from approved courses in other academic units, including the Schools of Social Ecology and Physical Science, and the College of Medicine. Electives within each of the emphasis areas in Engineering are listed below.
Water Quality: Engineering CBE230 (Transport Phenomena), CBE240 (Bioengineering with Recombinant Organisms), CBE260 (Reaction Engineering), CBE262 (Bioreactor Engineering), CBE270 (Bioremediation), CEE261 (Environmental Microbiology), CEE262A, B (Colloid Transport Phenomena I, II), CEE263 (Water and Waste Treatment Technology), CEE264 (Chemical Equilibria in Natural Waters), CEE265 (Chemical Dynamics in Natural Waters), CEE266 (Aqueous Geochemistry), CEE267 (Advanced Treatment Models), CEE269 (Hazardous Waste Remediation).
Water Resources: Engineering CEE271 (Unsaturated Flow in Soils), CEE272 (Groundwater Hydrology), CEE274 (Transport Phenomena in Porous Media), CEE275 (Numerical Methods in Subsurface Hydrology), CEE276 (Stochastic Geohydrology), CEE278 (Flow in Open Channels), CEE279 (Surface Water Hydrology).
Air Quality and Combustion: Engineering MAE210 (Advanced Fundamentals of Combustion), MAE215 (Advanced Combustion Technology), MAE233A, B (Numerical Methods in Heat, Mass, and Momentum Transport), MAE230A (Advanced Incompressible Fluid Dynamics I), MAE231 (Fundamentals of Turbulence), MAE232 (Atmospheric Turbulence), MAE260 (Issues Related to Atmospheric Processes), MAE261 (Air Pollution Modeling), MAE264 (Combustion Particulates and Aerosols), MAE280 (Digital Data Acquisition and Analysis).
Two options are available for M.S. degree students: a thesis option and a comprehensive examination option. Both options require the completion of 36 units of study. Study plans for both options must also include two graduate courses from outside the student's primary area of emphasis.
Plan I. Thesis Option
A thesis option is available to students who prefer to conduct a focused research project. Students selecting this option must complete an original research investigation and a thesis, and obtain approval of the thesis by a thesis committee. Of the 36 required units, at least 20 must be graduate courses (numbered 200-289), including either Engineering CBE220, MAE200B, or CEE283. A maximum of eight M.S. research units and up to eight units of upper-division undergraduate elective courses may be applied to the degree with the approval of a faculty advisor.
Plan II. Comprehensive Examination Option
Alternatively, students may select a comprehensive examination option in which they must successfully complete 36 units of study and pass a comprehensive examination. At least 24 units must be graduate courses (numbered 200-289), including either Engineering CBE220, MAE200B, or CEE283. Up to 12 units may be taken as upper-division undergraduate elective courses.
The Ph.D. concentration in Environmental Engineering requires the achievement of original and significant research that advances the discipline. Doctoral students are selected on the basis of an outstanding record of scholarship and potential for research excellence.
The doctoral study program is tailored to the individual student in consultation with a faculty advisory committee. There are no specific course requirements, however, additional mathematics courses beyond those required for a M.S. degree are generally required, reflecting the student's specific research interests. Within this flexible framework, the School maintains specific guidelines that outline the milestones of a typical doctoral program. All doctoral students should consult the Civil Engineering program's guidelines for details, but there are several milestones to be passed: admission to the Ph.D. program by the faculty, passage within the first year of a preliminary examination or similar assessment of the student's background and potential for success, research preparation, formal advancement to candidacy by passing a qualifying examination, completion of a significant research investigation, and the submission and oral defense of an acceptable dissertation.
Committees for preliminary and Ph.D. qualifying examinations and the doctoral committee must have at least one Environmental Engineering faculty member from outside the student's area of emphasis. The student's dissertation topic must be approved by the student's doctoral committee. The degree is granted upon the recommendation of the doctoral committee and the Dean of Graduate Studies. Doctoral programs must be completed within seven calendar years of the date of admission.
114D Rockwell Engineering Center; (714) 824-5807
Farghalli A. Mohamed, Director
Faculty
James C. Earthman: Fatigue behavior and cyclic damage, automated materials testing, defect monitoring techniques, image analysis
Hideya Gamo: Quantum electronics, electromagnetics
Enrique J. Lavernia: Solidification processing of metals, intermetallics and refractory materials
Chin C. Lee: Electronic packaging, thermal management, integrated optics
Henry P. Lee: Optoelectronic materials, growth, and devices
Guann Pyng Li: Optoelectronic devices, integrated circuit fabrication and testing, high-speed semiconductor technology
Martha L. Mecartney: Microstructure of materials, interfacial engineering, sol-gel processing, ferroelectric thin films, electron microscopy
Farghalli A. Mohamed: Mechanical properties, creep, superplasticity, correlations between property and microstructure
Frank G. Shi: Phase transformations, metastable materials
Gregory J. Sonek: Devices, electrooptics and fiber optics, biomedical applications
Chen S. Tsai: Integrated optic devices, circuits, materials; acoustic microscopy with applications to materials, device characterization
Materials Science and Engineering is concerned with the generation and application of knowledge relating the composition, structure, and processing of materials to their properties and applications. During the past two decades, the field has become an important component of modern engineering education, partly because of the increased level of sophistication required of engineering materials in a rapidly changing technological society, and partly because the selection of materials has increasingly become an integral part of almost every modern engineering design. In fact, further improvements in design are now viewed more and more as primarily a materials issue. Both the development of new materials and the understanding of present-day materials demand a thorough knowledge of basic engineering and scientific principles including, for example, crystal structure, mechanics, mechanical behavior, electronic, optical and magnetic behavior, thermodynamics, phase equilibria, heat transfer, diffusion, and the physics and chemistry of solids.
The field of Materials Science and Engineering ranks high on the list of top careers for scientists and engineers. The services of these engineers and scientists are required in a variety of engineering operations dealing, for example, with design of semiconductors and optoelectronic devices, development of new technologies based on composites and high-temperature superconductivity, biomedical products, performance (quality, reliability, safety, energy efficiency) in automobile and aircraft components, improvement in nondestructive testing techniques, corrosion behavior in refineries, radiation damage in nuclear power plants, and fabrication of steels.
Subjects of interest in the field cover a wide spectrum, ranging from metals and optical and electronic materials to superconductive materials, ceramics, advanced composites, and biomaterials. In addition, the emerging new research and technological areas in materials are in many cases interdisciplinary. Accordingly, the principal objective of the graduate curriculum is to integrate a student's area of emphasis--whether it be structural materials, chemical processing, mechanics of solids, or electronic devices--into the whole of material science and engineering. Such integration will breed familiarity with other disciplines and provide the students with the breadth they need to face the challenges of current and future technology.
Programs of study leading to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering are offered.
Recommended Background
Given the nature of Materials Science and Engineering as a cross-disciplinary program, students having a background and suitable training in either Materials, Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Chemical), or the Physical Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Geology) are encouraged to participate. Recommended background courses include an introduction to materials, thermodynamics, mechanical behavior, and electrical/optical/magnetic behavior. A student with an insufficient background may be required to take remedial undergraduate courses.
Core Requirement
Because of the interdepartmental nature of the concentration, it is important to establish a common foundation in Materials Science and Engineering for students from various backgrounds. This foundation is limited to comprehensive materials science topics and is covered in the three core courses: MSE200, MSE205, and MSE210.
Areas of Emphasis
Each student selects an area of emphasis within Materials Science and Engineering: Electronic and Photonic Materials, Structural Materials, Mechanics of Solids, or Chemical Processing of Materials. Students select specific course requirements within the areas of emphasis in consultation with the program director and their faculty advisor. Typical examples follow.
Chemical Processing: Engineering CBE210 (Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics), CBE230 (Transport Phenomena), CBE260 (Reaction Engineering), CBE280 (Fundamentals of Phase Transformations).
Electronic and Photonic Materials: Engineering ECE217A (Advanced Semiconductor Devices I), ECE217B (Advanced Semiconductor Devices II), ECE275A (Electrooptical Devices).
Mechanics of Solids: Engineering CEE242 (Continuum Mechanics), CEE243 (Mechanics of Composite Material), CEE281 (Finite Element Method in Continuum Mechanics).
Structural Materials: Engineering MAE200A or 200B (Engineering Analysis), MSE251A (Dislocation Theory), MSE252A (Diffusion Theory), MSE253 (Kinetic Phenomena in Materials), MSE254A (Mechanical Behavior of Engineering Materials), MSE255 (Ceramic Materials), MSE256A (Fracture of Engineering Materials), MSE259A (Electron Microscopy), MSE261 (High-Temperature Deformation of Engineering Materials).
A minimum of 36 approved units is required for the M.S. degree. Two options are available, a thesis option and a courses only option. The thesis option requires a research study of greater depth and originality than the courses option. For the thesis option, students are required to develop and obtain approval for a complete program of study. A committee of three full-time faculty members is appointed to guide development of the thesis. At least 21 units must be from courses numbered 200289, among which nine units are from MSE core courses and 12 units are in an area of emphasis approved by the faculty advisor and the graduate advisor. Up to eight units of Engineering MAE296 or ECE296 and up to eight units of undergraduate elective courses can be applied toward the 36-unit requirement. For the courses only option, at least 24 units must be from courses numbered 200289, among which nine units are from MSE core courses and 15 units are in an area of emphasis approved by the faculty advisor and the graduate advisor. Up to eight units of undergraduate elective courses can be applied toward the 36-unit requirement.
The Ph.D. concentration in Materials Science and Engineering requires a commitment on the part of the student to dedicated study and collaboration with the faculty. Ph.D. students are selected on the basis of outstanding demonstrated potential and scholarship. Applicants must hold the appropriate prerequisite degrees from recognized institutions of high standing. After substantial preparation, Ph.D. candidates work under the supervision of faculty advisors. The process involves extended immersion in a research atmosphere and culminates in the production of original research results presented in a dissertation.
Milestones to be passed in the Ph.D. program include the following: acceptance into a research group by the faculty advisor during the student's first year of study; successful completion of the Ph.D. preliminary examination; preparation for doing research, completion of the School of Engineering teaching requirements, and the development of a research proposal; passing the qualifying examination which assesses the candidate's preparation for research and evaluates the proposed research; successful completion of the research; development and approval of the dissertation; presentation of the dissertation and a final examination on its contents. There is no foreign language requirement.
The preliminary examination, to be taken in the fall of the second year of the Ph.D. program, is based on the MSE core courses and courses taken in the area of emphasis. The examination committee is appointed by the program director with subsequent approval by the Chair of the appropriate department of the area of emphasis. The degree is granted upon the recommendation of the doctoral committee and the Dean of Graduate Studies. The program must be completed within seven calendar years of the date of admission.
MSE200 Advanced Concepts in Materials (3) F. Principles and concepts underlying the study of advanced materials including alloys, composites, ceramics, semiconductors, polymers, ferroelectrics, and magnetics. Crystal structure and defects, surface and interface properties, thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transformations, and material processing, related to fundamental material properties. Prerequisites: Chemistry 1A-B-C, Physics 5A-B-C.
MSE205 Physical and Electronic Properties of Engineering Materials (3) W. Covers the electronic, optical, and dielectric properties of crystalline materials to provide a foundation of the underlying physical principles governing the properties of existing and emerging electronic and photonic materials. Prerequisite: introductory course in electromagnetics and modern physics.
MSE210 Materials Characterization Techniques and Analysis (3) S. Introduction to microcharacterization techniques, and their application to the study of bulk and thin-film materials; methods of analysis, including electron beam-induced excitations (SEM, SAM, EDX, STEM), x-ray and photon-induced interactions (PEX, ESCA), ion processes (RSB, SIMS, PIXE), submicron optical techniques, and electromagnetic field-induced methods (STM, AFS). Prerequisites: Chemistry 1A-B-C, Physics 5A-B-C.
145 Biological Sciences Administration; (714) 824-6686
Participating School of Engineering Faculty
Nancy A. DaSilva: Improvement of cell and enzyme-mediated processes via molecular genetics
Thomas K. Wood: Expression of oxygenases in foreign hosts for bioremediation
The School of Engineering, in conjunction with the School of Biological Sciences and the Department of Chemistry in the School of Physical Sciences, participates in the joint graduate program in Protein Engineering. This interdisciplinary graduate program offers students the opportunity to work with the approximately 20 faculty in any of the participating academic units; take course work in the areas of protein structure, function, and molecular biology; and earn the Ph.D. in Engineering, Biological Sciences, or Chemistry with a concentration in Protein Engineering Science. Additional information is available in the School of Biological Sciences section of the Catalogue and through the Graduate Program in Protein Engineering office in the Biological Sciences Administration Building.
