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The materials engineering program applies materials science to engineer improved construction materials to build our infrastructure. These materials traditionally include asphalt concrete, Portland cement concrete, steel and fiber reinforced concrete, unbound and chemically bound aggregates, and chemically treated and stabilized soils.
The civil engineering curriculum at Texas A&M covers a wide spectrum of topics in materials engineering, including materials science, general construction materials, pavement design, pavement management, micromechanics, and microstructure characterization and modeling. These courses provide undergraduate students with the scientific concepts and practical considerations underlying the selection, specification, and quality control of civil engineering materials. In addition, graduate students are provided with the knowledge necessary to advance in the practice and art of materials engineering.
During the past decade, the needs of the nation and the world have required civil engineers to also focus on the reuse of valuable materials and resources, which in turn has created exciting challenges in understanding how to chemically and mechanically stabilize these materials for reuse. Current challenges require the application of micromechanics, computer-assisted visualization tools, thermodynamics, kinetics, and an appreciation of construction processes to solve problems. Civil engineers have adapted and applied multidisciplinary principles to solve problems and have used similar approaches to those used in solid rocket propellants, adhesives, metals, and ceramics.
In our materials research program, we interact with and share the resources of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, the Texas Transportation Institute, and several university-based national centers of expertise, including the International Center for Aggregates Research, the South Central Superpave Center, and the Center for Asphalt Materials and Chemistry. These centers offer the opportunity to provide funding for outstanding students and to demonstrate the application of engineering principles and research on a field scale.
