I left Purdue in 1993 and have been a professor in mechanical and materials engineering at Washington State University (WSU) for 10 years now. I have two things—besides research— that I’m very interested in: getting undergraduates involved in research early, and letting people know about materials engineering. After a while it’s tiring to be the best-kept secret, and materials as a field definitely has its shy streak.

At WSU everyone has to be well-rounded, which entails each student taking courses from outside of their major. Several years ago, another faculty member and I started a course called “Materials: The Foundation of Society and Technology.”  We decided that, rather than trying to convert more students to materials, we’d subvert the system by teaching business, agriculture, and political science students about materials.

In our own unique way, we explain how materials fit into modern society and without using that standard triangle we all grew up with. We instead intersperse materials within the world’s history (e.g. the “ages”) and use topical materials such as transportation and sports materials to explain their role in the past and today. If we want to reach more people, we’ve got to talk about the things they’re interested in. We know this works when students who aren’t in materials engineering—a music major, for instance—use the Griffith Criteria in a paper! 

I also spend a lot of time leading undergraduate research activities. Conventional wisdom in all the engineering fields—at least when I was an undergrad—was that we did senior projects. Why? Because we’d learn the basics and then apply them in a hands-on project. I’ve run an undergraduate research program each summer for nine years, and even had several Purdue students out for the summer. And, yes, they did a great job. So, this shows that I’m a big fan of starting students earlier.

Retention in engineering is abysmal across the country, with less than 50 percent of freshman students making it to graduation. And I suspect a lot of that has to do with our holding back the “fun” parts (or at least the more creative parts) until near the end. We’re seeing more professors starting to realize that getting freshmen and sophomores interested in research or active learning pays off in terms of retention within the field. We should consider ourselves a field that lets undergraduate students explore, design, create, and discover things alongside our faculty and graduate students. While a freshman isn’t a miniature graduate student, they can do valuable work on projects with some guidance and can take an active role in shaping questions and finding answers.

Basically, it comes down to a need for more materials engineers out there—at least that‘s what the companies hiring our students tell us. I think there’s something special about being in materials engineering, partly because it’s a small and friendly discipline. But there are things we can do to make it a slightly bigger and well-rounded club. 

Dave Bahr
(BSMSE ’92, MSMSE ’93, Ph.D 1997, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis) is a professor of mechanical and materials engineering at Washington State University and director of undergraduate research for the university’s Office of Undergraduate Education. He was awarded the ASM International Bradley Stoughton Award for Young Teachers in 2003 and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2000.