About Materials Science

Take a look around you. Everything you see—stuff made by nature and stuff made by humans—is known as “materials.” These materials constantly interact with each other, influencing the way we live, work and play.

As materials scientists, our mission is to understand, effectively use and responsibly manage all the stuff around us.

From the Stone Age and Bronze Age of ancient civilizations, all the way up to today’s age of technology and manufacturing, materials science has helped us evolve and solve problems to improve our everyday lives.

On the other hand, certain materials can cause harmful or unintended consequences if we don’t understand how they’re structured or how they behave. That’s why it’s so important for us to study the materials in the cars we drive, the food we eat, the plants we grow, the energy we consume, the pollution and waste we create, the medical treatments we develop and more.

So what does materials science look like today? Scientists and engineers from all different backgrounds work together to understand the building blocks of matter. In Mission: Materials Science, you’ll uncover the same kind of information these scientists study every day. Phase One, "Break Down," explores the atoms and molecules that make up all materials. Phase Two, "Build Up," examines how different assembly methods can alter a material’s final properties. And Phase Three, "Control," gives you an idea of how we can manipulate even the tiniest bits of matter.

Behind every solution that helps us live smarter, healthier, more efficient or environmentally-friendly lives, you can bet there was a team of materials scientists guiding that progress.

They make matter that matters.