<p>Why do universities that do not have a materials engineering department have a materials engineering program under mechanical engineering? Wouldn’t it make more sense if it were under the chemical engineering department?</p>
<p>To me it makes more sense to have it under mechanical engineering. Material selection is a very important part of the mechanical design process. Sure, some materials are designed under a chemical process (like plastics) but the study of materials has always been linked to mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>In the old days, “Material Science and Engineering” was just metallurgy. None o’ this “ceramics” and “plastics” stuff. Metallurgy was primarily studied by those who needed it… mechanical engineers, who built things out of metal. So, despite what it’s become, which may be more akin to chemical engineering, the last vestiges of the beginnings of Material Science and Engineering Departments keep them tied to mechanical engineering in universities that haven’t spun off material science as its own department.</p>
<p>At least, that’s what I remember being told.</p>
<p>Not to mention, a lot of material science is just learning what the properties of those materials are, and the reason they do that is so that mechanical engineers (and civs, and other people who design stuff) know what the capabilities of the materials are.</p>