Welcome to Course of Materials Engineering

�@On behalf of all the staffs and students of our Course, I would like to welcome you to our homepage. Going back to 1942, our Course was born as the sixth department of Engineering School. Till now, the name of the Department was changed five times, but most of the time period the Department was known as Metallurgical Engineering. It was in 1994 when the present name of Materials Engineering was given to the Department. The basic motivation behind this change is we have been expanding our research and educational activities from metals and alloys to ceramics and other materials, from structural to functional and advanced materials, from processing bulky materials to designing and controlling interfaces, which require synthesized knowledge of traditional metallurgy and modern materials science.

�@ As of April in 2005, Course of Materials Engineering consists of eleven laboratories (three of them are joint collaborations with Center for Advanced Research of Energy Conversion Materials) to which 20 professors are belonging as faculty staffs. Together with 9 research associates and about 3 technical and administrative staffs, we are undertaking the responsibility of education and carrying out active research works. We have 120 undergraduate students and 71 graduate students. Facing the fact that nearly 90% of the undergraduate students continue their studies in the Graduate school, our curriculum is designed as 6 years program. Most of the graduate students with Master of Engineering degree are offered the jobs in heavy industry such as a steel company, an automobile company, an electronic industry etc without any difficulties.

�@"IT" (Information Technology) seems to be a hot terminology attracting young generation all over the world. Yet, we should not forget that our society is nothing but a vanity without hardware. It is hardware which brings the reality into the world. Even software is exclusively depending upon the development of hardware. Materials engineering is located at the central field of designing and manufacturing hardware.

�@From immemorial days of Stone Age till the current Iron Age, the history of human being may be regarded as the history of developing better tools and materials. We were and we are seeking better materials through the renovation of technologies. Such an importance of materials technology will be undoubtedly further stressed and appreciated in the coming 21st century. From controlling the electrons and atoms and optimizing microstructures to manufacturing materials for huge constructions such as skyscrapers, space craft etc, we have broad spectra of research fields.

�@In order to contribute to developing a further better society in the 21st century and to the happiness of mankind, we would like to earnestly continue our efforts of educating students and of carrying out active research works. We, the staffs of Materials Engineering Course, welcome enthusiastic young people to participate in the renovation of materials technology. Join us to change the world and to change yourself.