Materials Engineering - College of Engineering & Applied Science

When you earn a Bachelor of Science in Materials Science & Engineering from UWM, you’ll join a relatively new academic field that is changing the world in innumerable ways. Modern materials scientists develop and test composite and simple materials that, for example, extract pollutants from water, hold the ability to self-heal, last longer, or are manufactured in a way that reduces the amount of by-products sent to landfills.

In our tight-knit classrooms, labs and through internships and co-ops, you’ll blend knowledge in chemistry, physics and engineering as you investigate the relationship between the structure of materials at the atomic or molecular level and their macroscopic properties.

You’ll graduate ready to apply your knowledge to in fields such as aerospace, architecture, biomedicine, computers and electronics, construction, metal manufacturing, transportation and recreation.

Jump to Program Details

Program Type

Major, Minor

Program Format

On Campus

Career Outlook

In 2021, the median annual wage for materials engineers was $98,300.*

The Milwaukee region has one of the highest employment levels nationwide for materials engineering.* Milwaukee also has one of the largest concentrations of foundries in the United States; our Foundry Education Program is a source of well-trained engineers for this industry.

*U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

What to Expect

Increased speed to graduation

Our new and redesigned curriculum makes it easier and faster for you to complete your degree. You’ll also find greater flexibility in the electives available to customize your experience.

What makes our program stand out

Materials engineering is based on mathematics, physics and chemistry. You will learn about the nature of substances that might be used for a particular purpose and the chemical and physical processes that are involved in their production. Materials engineers become experts at understanding and using the relations between processing, structure, properties and the performance of materials.

You can tailor your electives to focus on specific areas such as:

Advanced materials characterization
Biomaterials
Materials for energy application
Materials processing
Metal casting
Specific courses in ceramics, polymers, composites, and electronic materials

Interested in a Career in the Metal Casting Profession? Scholarships Available!

Our Foundry Education Foundational (FEF) Program helps ensure great talent enters the profession and offers students—starting as soon as their freshmen year—annual, renewable scholarships and industry connections. More than 50% of students in this program receive scholarships ranging from $500-$2,000 each year. Over 200 of our students have been awarded these scholarships since UWM was named a FEF school in 1996.

Graduates have consistently and readily found jobs with foundries – including Badger Alloys, Grede, Kohler Industrial Castings, Signicast, Spuncast, Stainless Foundry, Waupaca Foundry—and companies — including Boeing, GE Aviation, General Motors, Intel, Lockheed Martin, Oshkosh and Tesla.

FEF really is a one-of-a-kind organization. I can say from being a member in many professional societies that none are as proactive in getting students meaningful experience, industry connections, scholarships and ultimately great jobs as FEF

Emily (FEF scholarship recipient; now at Kohler Co.)Alumna, Materials Science and Engineering

Additional scholarship resources for careers in the metal casting industry:

Honors

You will be eligible for these honors in the major during your studies and upon completing your degree.

Students at UWM have many opportunities to earn honors recognition.

UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science program provides many opportunities to pair classroom learning with hands-on experiences outside the classroom. The college’s location in Wisconsin’s largest city, with a broad network of industry partnerships, gives you easy access to well-paid internships and co-ops, as well as other important opportunities to enhance your resume.

Did you know?

95.1 percent of our graduates launch their careers or continue their education upon graduation.
_{SOURCE: UWM First Destination Survey for the College of Engineering & Applied Science, December 2021}

Our students have had many hands-on opportunities to develop their skills and to determine what type of career experience they would like after graduation, while often earning a significant paycheck over summer breaks and even during the academic year.

Here are some of the businesses where our materials science & engineering students have had internships, co-ops or careers:

Charter Steel
Clarios
GE Healthcare
General Motors
Honda of America
Johnson Controls
Kohler Co.
Lucas-Milhaupt
MetalTek
Metallurgical Associates
Modine Manufacturing
Nucor Steel
Rockwell Automation
SACO AEI Polymers
Signacast
Sikorsky (Lockheed Martin)

In your senior year, you’ll team up with other students to complete a Capstone Project, during which you’ll use what you’ve learned in class to complete an experience similar to an employer request. Past students have created membranes for filtration of pharmaceuticals from drinking water using metal-organic framework materials, energy-saving heat treating processes for steel alloys, high-capacity lithium-ion battery materials and more.

STUDENTS IN ACTION: Students save WI Company $43,000/year as part of capstone project
Based entirely on the work of four materials engineering students, a Saukville specialty steel manufacturer saved $43,095 last year. And those savings will continue into the future.

read their story

American Foundry Society

Provides academic, hands-on and career opportunities to students interested in metallurgy and the metal casting industry.

Materials Advantage

For any student interested in Materials Science and Engineering; nearly all activities are open to all students regardless of membership status.

For full descriptions and contact information of all engineering and materials engineering related student organizations and clubs, click here.

Research Labs

Advanced Analysis Facility

This facility houses and maintains research instrumentation, which provides full capability for materials and chemical analysis.

Foundry and Solidification Lab

This small-scale foundry provides students with hands-on training in cutting-edge foundry processing techniques and research.

UWM Center for Composite Materials

The center links the materials processing industry and UWM’s students and faculty in research efforts.

Resource Rooms

UWM students have a wealth of additional resources available to them within the College of Engineering & Applied Science. From computer labs and tutoring resources to teaching labs and spaces to create or collaborate. Details here.

We’re a top tier R1 research university and our students have the opportunity to work with faculty engaged in leading-edge research in areas such as:

Polymer solar cells
Materials for advanced drug delivery
Manufacturing processes
Structural analysis of aerospace materials
Materials for energy storage
Application of nanomaterials in construction
Self-healing metals and advanced metal-matrix composites.

Undergraduates also have the opportunity to get paid to do research with UWM’s SURF (Support for Undergraduate Research Fellows) Program which fosters a win-win situation for both faculty and students.

Both graduates and undergraduates have the opportunity to participate in the annual Student Research Poster Competition to see who can best represent their research visually on a poster and verbally by describing it to judges.

This optional course is co-taught by an engineering professor and an art professor. Interdisciplinary teams of student engineers, artists and designers present ideas professionally, deliver presentations and take an idea from concept to design to prototype.

Directed by the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center, the UWM Student Startup Challenge is an optional, co-curricular program that fosters our students’ innovative and entrepreneurial ideas. You can work alone or as part of a team as you gain the skills that come from entrepreneurial experience.

What You’ll Do

Because everything we use is made of some material or combination of materials, materials science engineers are central to the development and design of new products. Your work might focus on:

Developing new materials for applications in energy, healthcare, automotive, aerospace, and others
Failure analysis
Fundamental research including computational materials and laboratory-based work
Primary production processes and subsequent manufacturing such as metal casting, polymer processing, advanced coatings
Quality control
Business development and intellectual property

Charter Steel
Clarios
GE Healthcare
General Motors
Honda of America
Johnson Controls
Kohler Co.
Lucas-Milhaupt
MetalTek
Metallurgical Associates
Modine Manufacturing
Nucor Steel
Rockwell Automation
SACO AEI Polymers
Signacast
Sikorsky (Lockheed Martin)

Student Stories

My internship at Harley-Davidson’s Product Development Center has been amazing. Never before would I have believed that before even beginning my sophomore year of college I would have landed my first real engineering job.

Ameralys (Paid internship and career launch at Harley-Davidson)BS, Materials Science