Graduate Program

Minor Requirement for the Doctorate

The Minor Requirement is designed to encourage the development of intellectual breadth at an advanced level. A proposed minor must be discussed with and approved by a student’s research supervisor. The proposed program (submitted on the “Proposed Minor Program Form”, available in the DMSE Academic Office, Room 6-107) must then be approved by the Chair of the Departmental Committee on Graduate Students (DCGS). A program of study should be proposed early in a student’s doctoral program. Changes in a program must be approved through a “revised” minor proposal form to the DCGS Chair. The student’s research supervisor must sign and approve the revised minor proposal form.

Academic Minor Option

The academic minor program of study must be well separated from the student’s academic program subjects and thesis research area. Normally this means that the subjects are taken outside the Department, in a field not directly related to materials science and engineering. Occasionally, a course of study within the Department may be approved. For example, a student in the Electronic, Photonic, and Magnetic Materials Academic Program could complete a minor in Bio- and Polymeric Materials. However, materials-generic courses (such as 3.52 and 3.60) are generally considered central to the discipline and therefore would not be considered as appropriate for Minor Programs. (A special exception to this requirement has been made for PPST students.)

Subjects taken to satisfy the Minor Requirement must be at an advanced level. It is recommended that two related graduate level courses be taken (24 units). Minor Programs composed of one graduate level and one advanced undergraduate level course (24 units), or three advanced undergraduate courses (33 units), that were not used to obtain a bachelors or masters degree, may also be acceptable. An exception is a minor in a beginning language sequence where two 9-unit G subjects would most likely be approved.

Proposals for a Minor Program

Students must submit a letter outlining the proposed Minor Program to the DCGS for approval. The contents of the letter must include:

• a description of the student’s prior work in the proposed area if any;
• an explicit demonstration that all of the requirements for the Minor Program are fulfilled by the proposed program;
• attached copies of the catalogue descriptions of all subjects included in the petition;
• an endorsement of the proposal by the student’s research supervisor stating the program is coherent and distinct from both the student’s thesis research and the field in which the student has taken the Oral Examination; and
• a completed cover sheet. Blank copies are available in the DMSE Academic Office, Room 6-107.

DMSE Students Enrolled in the Program in Polymer Science and Technology (PPST)

As an alternative to the above procedure, PPST students may complete the Minor Requirement by:

• taking subject 3.20, Materials at Equilibrium, and subject 3.21, Kinetic Processes in Materials;
• taking one other graduate subject of at least 9 units that is not related to polymeric materials for academic credit; and
• submitting a request in writing to the DCGS Chair, c/o the DMSE Academic Office (Room 6-107), listing the subjects to be taken to fulfill the Minor requirement. The written request will need to have the research supervisor’s approval (by signature) and the catalogue description of the third subject.

Subjects Taken Outside MIT

Students with demonstrated professional competence (for instance, a graduate degree) in a field separate from materials science and engineering may petition the DCGS to use that experience to satisfy the Minor Requirement. Units and subject level requirement are the same as for subjects taken within MIT.

Teaching Minor Option

The Teaching Minor will comprise a comparable load and academic credit to the existing Minor Requirement, i.e., 24 units are “recommended.”

The process of approval of a Teaching Minor will be the same as that for the existing Minor Requirement. In particular, the proposed minor will require the thesis advisor’s approval and endorsement.

It is to the Department’s students’ advantage to have graduate student Teaching Assistants who are knowledgeable and not overburdened with taking other classes. Hence, only students who have passed their oral doctoral examinations may elect to satisfy the Minor Requirement with a Teaching Minor. (Therefore students generally begin a Teaching Minor in Year 3 of graduate study and not before. They designate their Teaching Minor in Spring Semester of the second year of graduate study in DMSE.)

Students who have elected the Teaching Minor option will be designated Teaching Interns during the semesters in which they are earning academic credit toward the Teaching Minor requirement. Teaching Interns will not normally receive simultaneous appointments as Teaching Assistants.

In order to complete a Teaching Minor, a student must serve as a Teaching Intern for two semesters and earn 24 units of academic credit (total) for “Teaching Materials Science and Engineering” (3.691-3.698). In addition, students pursuing a Teaching Minor must take subject 3.699, “DMSE Teaching Interns Seminar,” concurrently while serving as a Teaching Intern. 3.699 will be offered each fall semester beginning September 2007 and will provide instruction on how to teach lectures and recitations effectively, how to prepare a syllabus, writing assignments and examinations, grading, how to resolve complaints, etc. Where possible the seminar will make use of existing MIT resources on teaching such as MIT’s Teaching and Learning Laboratory and programs that have been developed by MIT’s School of Engineering and other departments for TA orientation and training.

Students who complete the requirements for a DMSE Teaching Minor will have satisfied DMSE’s Minor Requirement.

Students who serve as Teaching Assistants in semesters before they become eligible to designate the Teaching Minor option may use one semester of TA credit toward satisfying the Teaching Minor Requirement. The second semester of TA must be completed after the student has designated the Teaching Minor and it must be done concurrently with enrollment in the Teaching Intern Seminar 3.699.

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