Plan Your Career: Materials Science, mother of all fields, in great demand

I recently read something about Material Science. It interested me because I always cared for details. But I do not have any knowledge about it and have not come across too many people with a Materials science background. Can you enlighten me on the course? What are its prospects? (J Shareen)

Only an understanding of materials could lead to innovations. Such has been the case right from the Stone Age, right from the discovery of fire, to silicon solar cells in the modern era. Things we use every day, like the clothes  and shoes we wear, the dishes we eat from, the DVDs on we watch our movies, your skateboard to school bag: All these things are made of materials and making of such things and their ingredients concern Materials Science. 

There are more than 300,000 different known materials. In a broad term, the study enquiries into synthesis, processing, structure, properties and performance of any material. The properties could come from any field like mechanical, metals, ceramics, polymers, electrical, magnetic, plastic, canvas, optical, etc., 

It is engaged with a range of industries such as electronics, communications, medicine, transportation, manufacturing, recreation, energy, entertainment and environment. It is also concerned with advanced manufacturing, renewable and sustainable energy, healthcare, nanotechnology, biotechnology, transport, aerospace, communication and Information Technology. 

Material scientists regularly discover a new type of materials and combination of entirely new materials. They look for relations between the structure of materials, its properties and the changes that happen while processing and eventually what the materials are capable of doing, literally their performance. There are a number of Engineering colleges and universities offering Materials Science in Engineering and Science streams in both bachelors and masters streams. 

For higher studies like M Tech or MS, IIT or NIT are also options, as there are only a few institutes offering the course. Completing only a bachelor’s degree does give only mediocre jobs. Astudy by Thomson Reuters puts India in the sixth position, in terms of research in Materials Science and is one of the leading countries in the Asia Pacific region. 

This is an encouraging development. But at the world level, India is far behind, compared to countries like France, Germany, USA, UK, the Netherlands, China and Japan. There are not many industries that require material science graduates in India. It hugely depends on kinds of industries the country is developing. 

Materials scientists are more needed for the product development research or R & D. The job options are materials engineer, metallurgist, product development scientist, research scientist, technical sales person. One can also become a biomedical engineer, patent examiner, quality control and teacher. Though typical employers are aerospace, armed forces and defence, nuclear industry, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and utilities. 

Materials Science does have an enormous impact on the environmental and climate change. Hence the study is assuming more importance. Begin by reading the Bulletin of Materials Science — a bimonthly scientific journal published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of Indian Academy of Sciences. It is a mother of all fields. 

Future scope for the field is brighter, as the world is turning more and more materialistic and consumeristic. We cannot imagine the world without materials. The graduates will never be stranded or redundant.