Nanotechnology and Materials Science

Nanoscience and nanotechnology are the studies and application of extremely small natural and synthetic particles. Researchers seeking to understand the fundamentals of properties at the nanoscale call their work nanoscience; those focused on effective use of the properties call their work nanoengineering. Encompassing nanoscale science, engineering, and technology, nanotechnology involves imaging, measuring, modeling, and manipulating matter at the nanoscale.

Materials science is a multidisciplinary field focused on developing materials, devices and systems that provide the foundation for advancing technology. Just about everything you use every day is a product of materials science and materials engineering. This pathway teaches students how material comes together, how it can be used, how it can be changed and made better to meet a particular need. This can mean creating completely new materials. Sometimes materials scientists are called ceramic or polymer engineers or metallurgists. As diverse as they are, materials scientists look at materials from a unified point of view: they look for connections between the underlying structure of a material, its properties, how processing changes it, and what the material can do under different conditions.