"Since
the Stone Age the development of materials has been
fundamental to the advancement of civilisation. Without
an understanding of materials we could not fly the
Atlantic, surf the internet or replace a heart valve.
Tomorrow's developments await further progress."
This
is a quotation from the UK benchmark statement for
Materials Science and Engineering. It illustrates
how important the study of Materials is to mankind
and therefore also how important it is that the discipline
of Materials Science & Engineering is well taught
in Universities. It is therefore particularly appropriate
that the government bodies which fund Universities
in the UK decided last year to support the disciplines
of Materials and (separately) Engineering as part
of their Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN).
The UK Centre for Materials Education (UKCME) is now
located at The University of Liverpool and its brief
is to support and encourage the teaching and learning
of Materials across the whole of the UK. The Centre
runs workshops on innovations in education, offers
support and advice on issues specific to materials
and is developing a database of teaching and learning
resources. You can find more detail from its web site
at www.materials.ac.uk.
UKCME's
Director, Professor Peter Goodhew, commenting on the
role of the Centre, said "The Materials discipline
encompasses aspects of the physical sciences and of
engineering. The material of interest might be a metal,
alloy, polymer, ceramic, semiconductor, textile, paper,
wood or composite material. Whatever it is, the two
central themes for the materials scientist are (i)
the link between structure (on length scales from
sub-nm to mm) and chemical, physical and mechanical
properties and (ii) how control of microstructure
through processing can be used to optimise the performance
of the end product. An important aspect of these themes
is that computer modelling is increasingly used to
predict both microstructure and properties. UKCME's
role is to help teachers of Materials to put across
the key elements of the discipline to enthusiastic
students."
There
is a second LTSN Centre to support other aspects of
Engineering. It has a similar brief, but is based
at Loughborough University and its web site can be
found at www.ltsneng.ac.uk.
The two Centres collaborate strongly to ensure that
the quality of UK Engineering education is second
to none.
