The Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State is an international leader in materials education and research. As a top-ranked program, the department thrives on a rich collaboration between faculty, staff, students, and researchers to promote a well-rounded academic experience and innovative research opportunities. Our department offers ABET accredited degree programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. View the information below to learn more.
Department head: John Mauro
Associate Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Enrique Gomez
Associate Head for Undergraduate Education: Amy Robinson
Associate Head for Graduate Education: Venkatraman Gopalan
Degrees offered: B.S., M.S., Ph.D., and minors
Website: https://matse.psu.edu
Penn State is the largest Materials Research Institution in the United States. Its faculty and research centers are world renowned for contributing breakthrough research in their respective fields. Anchored by the renovation of its state-of-the-art Steidle Building, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering includes laboratories devoted to computational research, material processing, and characterization, in addition to outstanding spaces for meetings, group work and information interactions.
When a jet streaks across the sky, pushing the boundaries of physics, or a new electronic device is created, Kaylin Lamaute, a second-year student majoring in materials science and engineering, knows that’s the result of the careful creation of materials.
Penn State faculty member Kofi Adu has received a U.S. Fulbright Scholar award for STEM research and education in the department of physics at the University for Development Studies (UDS) in the Northern Region of Ghana beginning this fall.
As part of our regular “We Are!” feature, we recognize 21 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University.
Engineers at Penn State are blending art and science to create cute, paint-on tattoos that could help spot heart attacks early, power robotic prosthetics and read brain waves — all within a colorful, customizable system that can be easily washed away or reapplied.
By combining approaches from two rapidly growing fields of quantum physics, researchers at Penn State and Saint Louis University have demonstrated a novel specialized material can naturally enable a new way to study unusual physical phenomena known as non-Hermitian dynamics.
John Mauro, the interim John Leone Dean in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State, was selected to receive the 2026 W. David Kingery Award from the American Ceramic Society (ACerS). He will be recognized on Monday, Oct. 5, at the ACerS Honors and Awards Banquet, which will be held during the society’s 128th Annual Meeting (MS&T26) in Pittsburgh.
Jon-Paul Maria, Dorothy Pate Enright Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State, has been named interim head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MatSE), effective July 1. Maria will lead the department while John Mauro, current department head, begins service as the interim John Leone Dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS).
Fourteen interdisciplinary research teams have received funding through the Institute of Energy and the Environment’s (IEE) 2026 Seed Grant Program. The program supports basic and applied research that lays the groundwork to pursue external funding and is guided by IEE’s five strategic research themes. This year, the program awarded seed funding to more than 40 researchers across 10 colleges and campuses and 21 departments and units.
From discovering planets beyond our solar system and analyzing samples returned from asteroids, to understanding the large-scale structure and evolution of the cosmos, Penn State researchers are helping to address fundamental questions about the universe — How did life begin? What is humanity’s future in space? What are the origins and fate of the universe? — while also leading some of today’s key advancements in space-related innovation and instrumentation.
Betul Akkopru-Akgun, assistant research professor in Penn State's Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Materials Research Institute, has received an Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program award to investigate how electricity and heat move through materials used in extreme environments.