October 14, 2024 Q&A with three undergraduates: Why they chose MS&E at UW-Madison Written By: Emma Conway Departments: Materials Science & Engineering Categories: Students Three undergrads share what went into their college decision and how their experience has been within the Department of Materials Science and Engineering Hannah Cabush she/her How many years have you been in MS&E? Three, so I am a junior. Why did you decide to attend UW-Madison? I’m from Wisconsin – in the Waukesha area – so it was always on my radar. When it came to my senior year, UW really shined above all the other schools I applied to, especially because they offered material science. It’s a smaller major, so definitely more attractive that I had a specific major I was looking for. I appreciated that UW-Madison was big too. It offers so many opportunities. That’s something I’ve really come to enjoy, that there are so many different niches here. You can really find where you want to be. It sounds like you knew coming into college that you wanted to study materials science and engineering. What motivated you to want to pursue the major? I knew I wanted to study engineering. I did all the math and science in high school, and I really enjoyed it. I was good at it. So it made sense for me to pursue engineering, but I wasn’t sure where I wanted to fall within it. Originally I was looking at chemical engineering because I really like chemistry. But my sister was an engineer at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, where they have a really strong materials science and engineering department. So she introduced me to the idea. She said that the way I described what I wanted to do – being hands on, actually touching things – sounded like materials science might be for me. My sister used examples, like how the new iPhones have stronger glass that is less likely to crack or how there are foldable phones now, to explain what materials science can do. Once I understood that, I knew it was something I wanted to do. So I kind of just went for it and was willing to go in headfirst. “The way I described what I wanted to do – being hands on, actually touching things – sounded like materials science might be for me.” -Hannah Cabush What would you say is your favorite part of being in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering? Everything. I love it all. I definitely appreciate how small it is. I really love how close we are able to get with our peers, and the fact that we travel through classes together. It feels more like a high school environment, where you really get to know your classmates, while learning at a higher level. I also like that we are encouraged to encourage each other. We work with each other and collaborate all the time. When it comes to labs, and we do random partners, I’m never scared of who I am going to be with because I know everyone in my classes.I love how many different materials you can go into too. You can specialize in whatever you’re interested in. I’m really a fan of polymers, so I like to focus on that. But even after focusing on polymers, there are so many more specifications I can choose from, which is exciting. On or off campus, what other groups, clubs or jobs are you a part of? I’m double majoring in data science, so that has allowed me to take some other classes in other departments with other people. But it has also been cool to see how data science can tie into materials science. I am currently taking Professor Dane Morgan’s elective (MSE 401: Data Science and Materials), so seeing the interaction between the two has been really cool. I do undergraduate research with Mechanical Engineering’s Polymer Exploration Center. I am working with Tim Osswald. It has been awesome to put a lot of my classwork into practice. I’m also the secretary for Materials Advantage. It’s great to have an organization that brings different aspects of the major together across cohorts. I’m also a part of InterVarsity, a Christian fellowship group on campus. I am a student leader, who leads an engineering Bible study. It’s fun that I get to tie that part of my life to the faith part of my life. I really enjoy that – keeps me busy. What do you hope to do after graduation? Likely an industry job. I just accepted an internship for the summer today. Wow, congratulations! Who is your internship with? Georgia-Pacific, so in the Appleton area. It is an R and D (research and development), technical role. Not exactly sure what the projects will look like yet, but getting myself into the polymers, the paper industry, I am excited for that. I’m definitely looking into some type of engineering, hands-on lab work after graduation. What are you looking forward to this semester? I’m planning on studying abroad this spring at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I’m excited to see what science and engineering looks like in a different context. It’s been a dream I’ve always had. Ever since I learned that it existed, I knew that was something that I needed to do. The fact that you can still live somewhere else for a year and still be productive – the fact that I am taking classes. I like that I’ll have structure and there’s a purpose for me being abroad. “It’s so cool that you can go to class and every professor knows your name. They want to know their students well.” -Hannah Cabush For students who may be on the fence about coming to school here, what would you say to them? There’s a lot of support and help within our department. The fact that I can study abroad and still graduate in four years is really cool. The department helped show me the pathway to make that dream possible. I love all the professors. They’re all really great. It’s so cool that you can go to class and every professor knows your name. They want to know their students well, and, with how small our department is, they do. Cole Rabe he/him How many years have you been in MS&E? Three years, so I am technically a junior. Where is home to you? Minneapolis, Minnesota. “When I got here, I was like ‘Wow, this actually is the best college town in the United States.’” -Cole Rabe Why did you decide to attend UW-Madison? I just loved the environment. I did PSEO (a Post Secondary Enrollment Option, where students can earn college credits while in high school) at the University of Minnesota. Initially, when I was applying to colleges, I thought, “Oh, I’ll apply to some reach schools outside of the Midwest.” My counselor was like, “Oh, you better apply to Madison.” Originally, I thought it was very similar to the University of Minnesota. Well, then I got into Madison and a few other schools. I figured I might as well do a road trip to Madison. I have some friends there. When I got here, I was like “Wow, this actually is the best college town in the United States.” Madison was made for this age demographic. There’s a lot of awesome outdoor access. You don’t have to go like 30, 40 minutes outside of the city to do some cool outside activities. You can literally go sailing and rowing right here on one of our two lakes. I am also a BANNER Student, so Madison has been really helpful in funding my education. What is a BANNER Student? It’s an out of state student that meets certain criteria, like financial need and certain academic level or achievement. The college then gives you financial need through grants and a work study. So that’s really enabled me to avoid anything tricky with financial aid, because Madison is one of the few schools that really offers that to out-of-state students. Why did you choose to study MS&E? I’ve always been interested in chemistry and physics. My freshman year, I was kind of between chemical engineering, electrical engineering and material science and engineering. What was really my deciding factor was I was talking to Matt Nelson in the Engineering Career Services office about career outcomes. I met with him right before I met progression. (Once students reach the end of their first year within the College of Engineering, they have the opportunity to declare an engineering major.) And I gave him my spiel. I knew I wanted to work on groundbreaking stuff. I wanted to make new things. I don’t want to just optimize processes. And he said that if I was interested in the semiconductor industry, or even the high-temperature alloy industry, materials science and engineering is really where the advancements are happening in those fields. After that meeting, I switched my application from chemical engineering to materials science. I haven’t looked back since. “After that meeting, I switched my application from chemical engineering to materials science. I haven’t looked back since.” -Cole Rabe What has been your favorite part about the department? I really like the connections I’ve been able to make with professors. I feel like a lot of people, like in other majors, they do end up making lots of great connections with their professors. But I feel like we’re unique, because it doesn’t take too much energy to know all of the professors. I pride myself in the fact that when I walk by Professor Hyunseok Oh’s office, I can wave, and say hi, and we have a nice little chat. I haven’t even taken one of his classes yet. I actually met him at a conference last spring. That was my first time meeting him, and now we just talk. Professors are so friendly. And that can only lead to great things. It’s awesome when that barrier between the mentor and mentee is washed away. Are there other organizations you have been a part of, either on or off campus? I am a ULC (Undergraduate Learning Center) tutor with the College of Engineering. So I tutor some of the first classes an engineering major will take, including MSE 330: Thermodynamics of Materials, MSE 350: Introduction to Materials Science and MSE 351: Structure and Property Relations in Solids. But it’s not just tutoring – it’s a great connection to make because I am further in the program. I can provide them with recommendations for future courses to take and tell them what to expect. I am the co-president of the Materials Advantage chapter here at UW-Madison. Our chapter is joint with the American Foundry Society Chapter, so we work together. We try to host industry speakers and professors once a month to expose our students to the greater ideas of material science. We typically meet every other week. Another thing that I should mention is that I am pretty deeply involved in undergraduate research. I’ve been involved since my freshman year. I started in an analytical chemistry group. But, since last year, I am now working in a material science affiliate lab in the electrical engineering department with Professor Robert Jacobberger. He focuses on 2D materials mainly for electronic applications. Our group goal is to make a functional device out of those 2D materials. This summer, I had an internship with Seagate Technology in Bloomington, Minnesota too. I was responsible for their electroplating, chemical and mechanical polishing, and wet etch processes. And I got to work on an awesome project where I was working on decreasing impurities in their magnetic read-and-write head component, which are microns small. When I was working there, I got to use a lot of my materials science knowledge. Where do you see yourself after graduation? I was actually considering graduating this year because I technically had the credit space. But at the end of the day, I am interested in going to graduate school to pursue a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering. I am currently deciding between 2D materials and high entropy alloys. Those are the two fields where I see a lot of interesting problems. The main reason I decided to stick to the standard, four-year track though was because there are so many elective courses that I am interested in. My senior year, I will be taking a lot of cool, special topic courses, including MSE 756: Structure and Properties of Advanced Electronic Materials. It’s awesome that those courses don’t feel out of reach. I feel like I have made a really steady progression. Even if I were to have graduated this year, I made massive progress in my materials and chemistry knowledge. Will Ward he/him How many years have you been in MS&E? I am a senior now, so three years and some change. Why did you decide to attend UW-Madison? I grew up in Madison – just about 30 minutes away from here. In high school, a majority of my closer friends are actually here at UW. My family’s gone here. My sister went here. My dad went here. All my best friends were coming here. I knew I wanted to go here. Back when I was applying, UW-Madison was one of the only schools in Wisconsin that had a materials science program. Most other engineering programs did not offer materials science. So yeah, all those factors came together. I was just like, “Let’s go for it.” “Back when I was applying, UW-Madison was one of the only schools in Wisconsin that had a materials science program. Most other engineering programs did not offer materials science.” -Will Ward It sounds like you knew you wanted to study materials science before you came to college. What motivated that decision? My sophomore year of high school, I took a principles of engineering class. One day, in class, our teacher asked us to spend the day looking at engineering majors. They asked, “What would you do in engineering?” I started off in chemical engineering because the idea of tinkering in a lab. I wanted to be the dude in the lab, mixing chemicals together. And then I saw that there were the main four majors: mechanical, chemical, electrical and civil. Then, underneath them, there was all these sort of branches. So material science was kind of a sub branch underneath chemical engineering. And I saw that people were building new materials. That sounded like sci-fi. That sounded so cool. I also had a weird fascination with how things are put together when I was growing up – not parts but pieces of matter. I was always fascinated by it, wondering why they are the way they are? Why do they do what they do? So those two things kind of came together. I wanted to come in and do it, and I became super passionate about it. I never worried about switching majors. “And I saw that people were building new materials. That sounded like sci-fi. That sounded so cool.” -Will Ward What has been your favorite part about the department? I’ll say it’s one of two things. One is the lab courses. So those are really cool because you get to do the three main courses (MSE 360, 361 and 362) and then also the introductory course you take freshman year. I think that’s a good way to get people interested in the program without making a commitment to a particular major. But also, in the lab courses, you get to do a lot of really cool labs. You are exposed to some really cool instruments and techniques. The second thing I really like about the curriculum is being able to do research for professors. So right now, I actually do research with Professor Mike Arnold growing graphene. Right now, I am working about 10 hours a week. I just recently started in this group.From my experience, I used to work in Professor Kumar Sridharan’s group doing materials research for almost two years, and it was incredibly flexible – more flexible than any job. They understand if you have exams, so you can work less one week and more the next depending on your schedule. So I would recommend to any incoming student to spend at least a summer, maybe a year, doing research. It gives you a sense of what grad school could be like. Have you participated in any internship or co-op opportunities? I did an REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) this past summer at the University of Texas at Austin. The way an REU works is the NSF (National Science Foundation) has a grant, and they gave it to the school. They then are encouraged to reach out to undergraduates from across the country and draw them into the research that is being done there. Professors then agree to host students for 10 weeks. I worked with Professor Li Shi. He works on nanoscale heat transport measurements. It was all stuff I had never done before, but it was really cool because it was all about exploring. There were a lot of cool people there too. It sounds like after graduation you are hoping to go to graduate school. Do you want to continue studying materials science? Yes, I want to study advanced fabrication processes for nano and micro electronic devices, particularly growth processes. Do you have any advice for students interested in studying materials science and engineering? Don’t be afraid to explore all the different facets of material science. They’re all a little different, and it can help inform what elective classes you should take. You only get so many elective opportunities, so you want to use them wisely.