Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering

Materials science and mechanical engineering is a field within the Engineering Sciences area of study at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Prospective students apply through the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Harvard Griffin GSAS). In the online application, select “Engineering and Applied Sciences” as your program choice and select "PhD Engineering Sciences: Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering" in the area of study menu.

The materials science and mechanical engineering program at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering ranges from fundamental work in solid and fluid mechanics to diverse studies in materials, mechanical systems, and biomechanics. You will discover that mechanical engineering covers a wide range of activities, including research in dynamics, fluids, materials, solids, and thermodynamics. Your research will be strongly interdisciplinary, with many connections to Applied Mathematics, Applied Physics, Earth and Planetary Sciences, and Chemistry and Chemical Biology.

Materials scientists and mechanical engineers at Harvard are engaged in a wide range of work in the mechanics of materials structures. Projects that current and past students have worked on include seeking to create a revolutionary implantable brain-machine interface that can improve the treatment of neurological disorders and engineering the next generation of pop-up and inflatable buildings.

Graduates of the program have gone on to found exciting startups in health care and robotics and have begun a range of careers in law, industry, and government. Others have positions in academia at the University of Toronto, University of Rochester, and Harvard.

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