Introduction to the materials quartet of structure, processing, properties, and performance. Common classes of engineering materials will be covered. Performance metrics and selection criteria will be introduced.
Toward this end, there are the following course components:
Lecture problems are problems that will be assigned ahead of time to specific students to present to the entire class. They are designed to be a vehicle for presenting both the general principles in materials engineering, and the specifics of how to solve certain classes of problems. They will be assigned usually one week in advance. The assigned student is responsible for learning the needed material and developing the presentation to be given to the rest of the class. It is strongly advised that the presenting student check with Prof. Spjut for accuracy of solution and pedagogy of presentation before presenting the problem.
The lecture problem presentation will be graded in four areas with the following weights:
| Visit with Prof. Spjut beforehand | 10% |
| Technical accuracy | 40% |
| Ease of understanding | 25% |
| Utility and relevance | 25% |
The first two grades are provided by Prof. Spjut and the last two by the other students in the class. The grading rubric is here. It is also available as a PDF.
It is strongly recommended that the students who are not assigned a particular lecture problem still attempt to solve it before coming to class, so that they know which questions to ask.
The discussion of a homework problem will be led by a student chosen semi-randomly. Students will not be given advance notice that they are to lead a discussion on a given day, but all students are expected to be prepared to lead discussions on the day the problem is due (see exception below). Since everyone in the class should already have solved the problem, the person leading the discussion should give only a skeletal presentation of the solution technique. The majority of the time should be spent leading the class in a discussion of why the problem was given, what was expected to be learned, how the principles involved are useful to the practicing engineer, and any other relevant topics. The model for the discussion should be a humanities seminar where the class discusses the reading assigned for that day.
The homework problem presentation will be graded in four areas with the following weights:
| Technical accuracy | 25% |
| Depth of Discussion | 25% |
| Ease of understanding | 25% |
| Utility and relevance | 25% |
The first two grades are provided by Prof. Spjut and the last two by the other students in the class. The grading rubric is here. It is also available as a PDF. If you are not in class on the day you are asked to present, you will receive a zero, unless you have informed me sufficiently ahead of time (e.g., clinic or other trip), or your absence is due to a serious documentable cause (e.g., illness, earthquake, family tragedy). A zero on a homework score typically drops a student close to 1/2 letter grade for the course, e.g., from a B+ to a B. Students will be emailed their presentation grades as soon as they are available.
A student will not be expected to make a lecture problem presentation and homework problem presentation on the same day.
Because of the small-but-vocal complaints that I receive on a regular basis that a random sampling of your homework solutions when you lead the discussion does not accurately reflect the hours and hours of effort you devoted to the homework solutions, written homework solutions will be due for everyone (except lecture-problem presenters) at the end of class on the assigned day. They will be graded for technical accuracy only using the same rubric (html/pdf) as the Lecture Problems and Homework Discussions. However, if the grader cannot read them, the technical scores will drop accordingly.
To be successful in this class, you must start on your homework early. There are often missing parameters or approaches that are not in the book, nor in the class notes. You are expected to find the missing material. You can often find it by asking me in person or by email, but you won't know what to ask until you start on the homework. People who wait until the night before will almost certainly be unable to finish. This is my attempt to teach good study habits and time-management skills. Mudd students are notorious for their poor time-management skills.
There will normally be a quiz every class period excepting exam days. The quiz may be given at any time during class. They will be short (1-to-10 minutes) and typically on a single concept or idea. They will frequently cover the reading or lecture problems assigned for that day. Their principal purpose is to get you to do the reading and look at the lecture problems before coming to class
Three mid-term examinations and one final examination will be given. They will be open-book and open-note. The exams will consist of two sections: A series of short, single-topic questions, and several deeper questions. For the final exam, the entire examination must be completed during the exam period. For the mid-terms, the short-question section must be completed during the assigned testing period, but the deeper-question section may be completed anytime during a 24-hour period commencing with the start of the short-question period. The mid-term exams are designed so that they may may be totally completed (both short questions and deeper questions) in a 70-minute testing period. The 24-hour extension is simply for your convenience. The final exam is the equivalent of two mid terms.
The purpose of the short-question section is to test for a minimal competency in materials science and engineering. A list of exactly what concept or principle is being tested by each short question will be provided (typically one week) before the exam. Except for plugging in the numerical values, you can (and should) prepare complete solutions for the short questions before the exam. You may (and should) double check your solutions with me before the exam. You must pass 70 percent of the short questions on each exam to pass the course. A student passing fewer than 70 percent of the questions on a given exam will have one week from the time the exams are returned to schedule and pass an oral examination on the same subjects, if they wish to remain in the class. Anyone failing an oral examination will fail the course. It is possible (but difficult) to pass all of the oral examinations and still score low enough in the other areas of the course to fail the coure.
The deeper questions are designed to test for the ability to integrate and synthesize several basic skills in the solution of an engineering problem. Exam problems from previous years will be included in the homework. There will be no extra review sessions scheduled outside of class before the exams.
The weighting of assessed material will be as follows:
| Lecture Problem Presentations | 15% |
| Homework Problem Discussions | 15% |
| Submitted Homework | 10% |
| Quizzes | 10% |
| Midterms | 30% |
| Final | 20% |
There are two possible ways to earn extra credit in this course. The first is by finding errors and submitting corrections in the supplementary homework problems. Because the supplementary homework problems are a compilation of old exams from previous years, not all of the references to the text may be correct. For assigned problems (and assigned problems only) the first five people to point out an error and propose a correct fix for the error will gain 1/4 of a percent in their homework score, i.e., for the 25% of your grade that comes from homework I will add 1/4%. As soon as five people have submitted, I will email the correction to the entire class.
Way Two: If you are really sick of Materials, you might want to check out this website. 1/4% extra credit will be given to the first five people in each section to correctly expand the acronym "PAFLY". 1/4% extra credit will also be given to the first five students in each section to email me with the name of the partner in crime of Sheri, The Classy Dame. And finally, 1/4% extra credit will also be given to the first five people in each section to email me the answer to the question, "Vhat is dat ugly lookin' tentacle ting dat ve can see out der vindow?" An in-depth essay on the relationship of the Happy Buddha to FooT may earn as much a 1% extra credit, posting on the www.pafly.com website, AND a choice between a regular pafly! t-shirt or the new line of "ferret-fan" t's, depending on the quality of the essay (prizes courtesy of www.pafly.com).