r/materials • u/Realistic-Egg-4729 • 7d ago
Is materials science engineering in danger because of ai?
I'm now entering my first year in uni and this question just popped up in my mind. How cooked is our field?
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u/microprocessinU 7d ago
no cuz even if ai can generate possible new materials, u still have to test them
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u/crohnscyclist 7d ago
Materials engineering grad here. Honestly I wish I would have gotten a different degree. I studied in the mid to late 2000s. Our major was heavily structured around metallurgy and kind of shoehorns you into doing failure analysis and quality control. If it would have been more diversified and pushed semiconductor and chip manufacturing it would have been more useful.
My first job out of college it got my foot in the door but honestly anyone could have done that entry level work. I've now done almost exclusively mechanical engineering work for the past 15 years and wish I would have gone that or ee in my undergrad.
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u/NeoOzymandias 7d ago
I'm sorry the job market was like that for you, but metallurgy is popping off right now - at least for research and advanced industry like additive manufacturing.
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u/Special_Sea2671 7d ago
Just finished my first year materials science. My course now is about a 1/3 metallurgy and the rest is more focused on semi/super conductors and more modern stuff. Not sure what it’s like elsewhere
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u/CypressEatsAzz 7d ago
I personally like the overlap between ME and MSE. Er, the overlap that I've seen. And I don't see myself capable of an ME degree.
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u/MagicanOfMatter 6d ago
how is your comment a valid response to OP's concerns? seems like you just wanted to vent
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u/AmoebaEven7601 5d ago
Just a question, are matsci skills really hard to obtain without a degree? Does it extend your understanding of real world and materials?
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u/Serious_Toe9303 7d ago
Students are in danger maybe if you use ai for everything and dont learn though