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Description: |
Focus - Materials and Chemistry
The Materials Science and Chemistry departments at the University of Oxford are combining to offer this Focus course which aims to give an insight into both Chemistry and Materials Science, or Materials Engineering as it is also known. The course will allow participants to experience what it is like to study at Oxford University by residing in one of Oxford University’s Colleges attending lectures covering both Chemistry and Materials topics, and taking laboratory sessions aimed not only at giving a general idea about the two subjects, but also conducting experiments similar to those performed by undergraduates. Follow-up work will give a taste of how the tutorial system works to pose challenges and stimulate self-discovery. An Industrial visit to a local Science and Technology Facilities Council site will enable participants to experience the contribution that “Big Science” makes to research and development. A project aimed at simulating the commercial aspects of scientific research will also be carried out.
Materials Science is a vast interdisciplinary subject – which frequently brings together researchers from different physical and engineering sciences, but can also involve the Life and Medical Sciences, too. Essentially, it is the Materials Scientist who makes good use of the science developed by physicists, chemists and engineers by making it possible to improve and even develop new materials for novel purposes and help to maintain the role of the UK as a leading Industrial Nation.
The Oxford Chemistry Department is one of the largest, if not the largest, in the world. Each year 195-200 chemists graduate from our unique four-year course, spending their final year working full-time on a project with internationally leading researchers, while 80 graduate researchers receive doctorates. The Department has ten active Fellows of the Royal Society and has produced four Nobel prize-winners.
Some of the areas which may be covered in the course include:
- Aeronautical – Designing materials to make jet engine turbine blades.
- Biomedical – Can we make a bone analogue material to coat metal implants – and one day produce replacement organs for transplant?
- Ceramics – Superconducting materials.
- Electron Microscopy – Scanning EM and Transmission EM.
- Entrepreneurship – How scientists become businessmen to market their own discoveries.
- Nano Technology – Engineering at the atomic level.
- Polymers – Applications of conductive polymers to produce cheap polymer photovoltaic cells.
By meeting staff and postgraduate students, you will gain even greater insights into the worlds of Chemistry and Materials Research but most of all, you will enjoy finding out what makes both subjects so important and interesting – and let’s not forget that the whole course is fun, too. |
