Rice no. 1 in material sciences

By Joey Capparella     5/16/10 7:00pm

According to one publication, Rice is made of the right stuff for materials science. Last month, the Times Higher Education, a British publication for professionals in education and research, ranked Rice first among universities in the world for materials science research. The award, based on the number of citations per paper between January 1999 and October 2009, brings the Rice materials science program to the forefront in the field and will likely increase the visibility of the program in the future, Enrique Barrera, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, said.

Rice had 381 papers and 11,949 citations.

Materials science is the study of how different types of materials function and how they can be used in different areas of science such as physics and chemistry. Materials science also endeavors to find ways to create new materials with novel properties that can be used in different ways.

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Because materials science deals with the properties of matter and the structure of materials, it is a necessary part of the curriculum for a majority of the science and engineering majors at Rice. The Materials Science Department also offers its own undergraduate and graduate degrees. However, there are currently only five faculty members and approximately five to seven undergraduate materials science majors per year. In previous years, the program was not even in the publication's top 20 institutions for materials science.

This ranking is also important because of materials science's pervasiveness across all fields of science and engineering. Barrera said not only do many engineering students take materials science courses, but also that most physics, chemistry and bioscience professors are involved in teaching and researching in the area of materials science.

"Although the department has not previously been as recognized because of our small size, this ranking shows the impact of our program in the quality of our output, which is important on the world stage in research," Barrera said. "This most recent ranking will help our visibility on a broader scale."

Other schools in this ranking include Harvard University, the University of California-Santa Barbara and the University of Washington. Since those schools have larger departments, they publish more papers, but Rice still beat these schools because papers written by Rice professors were cited more frequently.

Barrera also said that this ranking will hopefully increase awareness of the program, as many students do not know about the major. The materials science program has many research opportunities; Barrera said all majors are engaged in some type of research in the department.

Vice Provost for Research James Coleman emphasized this program's importance for Rice.

"It's an incredible recognition of Rice's strategic investment into materials science, particularly in nanoscience, and a great accolade for the fantastic work of our faculty," Coleman said.

Barrera feels that this ranking can affect Rice on many levels.

"This ranking will give us a strong footing in the materials science community at large, which, in turn, will impact other departments across campus in our ability to move up in the rankings," Barrera said. "It will also raise awareness among students on campus about the major, which could lead more students to apply to Rice directly for materials science.

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