Materials Engineering Research and Education in the Philippines |
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Alberto V. Amorsolo, Jr. |
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Topics Covered |
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Materials Engineering Education |
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Abstract |
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Introduction
The study
of materials is deemed to be very important for the advance of current
technology considering that many technological breakthroughs in the past have
usually been the outcome of the development of important materials. History will tell us that progress in
civilization has been associated with the rise in the production and
utilization of certain materials such as bronze, iron, steel, and of course,
silicon. Even now, the term
“nanotechnology” is already a major buzzword in the scientific community and
its eventual maturation in the not so distant future is heralded to make
available for our utilization materials with superior properties far
exceeding our expectations. The
discipline known as Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) must therefore be
an important field of study which any country should give high priority. Expertise in materials will be very much
needed for a country to keep pace with the rapid changes in technology. This
paper will present the status of Materials Engineering research and education
in the Philippines in line with the objective of establishing a network for
research and other types of collaboration activities with its Asian neighbors
in the very important field of materials.
For meaningful partnerships to be achieved, it is important that one
be informed of what potential partners have to offer in terms of expertise,
experience and facilities so that collaboration activities can be dovetailed
to the specific needs of the parties involved. Materials Engineering Education
Prior to
the establishment of formal MS and PhD program offerings in Materials Science
and Engineering at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus in 1993,
certain courses were already being offered that provided fundamental
education in materials, particularly in metals and ceramics. For instance, B.S. Metallurgical
Engineering started to be offered at the University of the Philippines
Diliman campus as early as the 50s.
Later on, two other schools in the country would be offering the same
degree, Mapua Institute of Technology (Mapua Tech) in Manila and Mindanao
State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSu-IIT) in Iligan City of
southern Philippines. The B.S. Ceramic
Engineering program was also established later in MSU-IIT and Mariano Marcos
State University (MMSU) in Ilocos Norte province. The
metallurgical engineers and ceramic engineers were taught about the
fundamental principles of materials science and engineering though their
respective curricula focused only either in metals or ceramics. For example, metallurgical engineering
education familiarized the students with important principles about crystal
structures, defects like dislocations, and heat treatment which other
engineering graduates may not even be aware of. The metallurgical and ceramic engineers could be considered
then to be the most knowledgeable engineers in the country as far as
materials, were concerned. However,
the curriculum did not develop adequacy in areas such as polymer science and
engineering or electronic materials such as semiconductors, magnetic
materials and superconductors.
Organic chemistry, critical to the study of polymeric materials, was
for instance not even a required subject. In the
graduate level, there was also an established MS program in Metallurgical
Engineering in UP Diliman. There were
two areas of focus: one in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy and
the other in Physical and Adaptive Metallurgy, with the latter actually
leaning more to the Materials Science and Engineering aspect of the
discipline. Enrollment figures in
both the undergraduate and graduate program were low compared to other
engineering disciplines and the then U.P. Department of Mining and
Metallurgical Engineering was the smallest Department in the College of
Engineering. Today, licensed
metallurgical engineers in the country have a total number less than 600
engineers. Traditionally, the
employment opportunities up to the 1980s for metallurgical engineers were
mostly in the big mining companies which were then abundant in the
country. However, in the 90s, the
mining industry suffered a slump and an opportunity was instead created for
metallurgical engineers to practice in the semiconductor and electronics
industries of the Philippines. At
present, the semiconductor and electronics sector already accounts for 69% of
the country’s exports and can actually be considered to be the major employer
of graduates in both Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science and
Engineering in the country. During
the term of President Fidel V. Ramos, what spurred the creation of the
graduate program in Materials Science and Engineering in the Philippines was
the project known as DOST-ESEP, which stands for the Department of Science
and Technology-Engineering and Science Education Project. Prior to this, expertise in Materials
Science and Engineering had been identified to be critical to the
industrialization efforts of the country by the Science and Technology
Coordinating Council of the Republic of the Philippines. A program in Materials Science and
Engineering was needed to support the efforts in other technology sectors
such as energy, information, equipment and medical technologies. The creation of the MSE program was then a
key component of the Engineering and Science Education Project, with most of
the funding coming from loans from the World Bank. DOST-ESEP
made possible acquisition of fundamental equipment for education and research
in Materials Science and Engineering education. This included for instance major materials characterization
equipment such as a 200 kV transmission electron microscope, scanning
electron microscope with wavelength dispersive system, x-ray diffractometer
and thermal analyzers. The ESEP equipment
were concentrated in the three leading universities in the Philippines
(University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and De la Salle
University). These universities were
to become the centers of education in engineering and science in the country
and envisioned to provide graduate training to faculty from the other local
schools and universities. In line
with the objective to set up doctorate programs in science and engineering in
these identified centers of education, full foreign scholarships were also
awarded to faculty members of the key colleges and institutes as early as
1992. This was to ensure that the
critical mass of experts be available to make the graduate programs
viable. Local full scholarships were
also provided to faculty from other local universities and the doctorate
students in the local PhD MSE program were given the opportunity to conduct
their thesis in foreign universities under a sandwich program, prior to the
delivery of critical MSE equipment in the country for research. To
further ensure successful implementation of the graduate program in Materials
Science and Engineering, a Virtual Center in Materials Science and
Engineering was created in UP Diliman.
This would allow sharing of laboratory facilities for research or
education by the College of Science and College of Engineering. Considering the multidisciplinary nature of
Materials Science and Engineering, the graduate MSE program at UP Diliman
campus was offered as a joint program offering of the College of Engineering
and the College of Science. The
Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (DMMME) of the
College of Engineering and the National Institute of Physic (NIP) of the
College of Science were designated as the key department/institute to
implement the MSE program. Faculty
from other departments or institutes who had the proper expertise to teach
MSE courses could be tapped to serve as lecturers or thesis advisers. In the
present MSE graduate program in UP Diliman, students come from BS Engineering
or BS Science graduates. B.S.
graduates of Metallurgical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Ceramic
Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical
Engineering, Electronics and Communications Engineering, Industrial
Engineering and Civil Engineering have enrolled in the program. The BS Science graduates are usually
graduates in Physics or Chemistry.
Undergraduate remedial courses on fundamental materials science
courses are prescribed for those entering with no materials background. The MS MSE students take the same core
courses in MSE whether from engineering or science background. Aside from 18 units of lecture courses
under the MS MSE Thesis Option, six units of laboratory courses are required
to be taken to develop their skills in experimental research in materials,
especially if they have plans of pursuing the Ph.D MSE later. The MS MSE Non-Thesis Option is available
for those who are working full-time in the industry. Only faculty members who are PhD holders
are deemed qualified to teach in the graduate MSE program. In a typical semester, there are about
12-14 full-time faculty members with PhD degrees actively involved in
teaching graduate MSE subjects and/or serving as thesis advisers under the MS
MSE program. There are
also students who are faculty members from other schools and they usually
enter under scholarships from their sending institutions. Though the UP Diliman campus is the only
one that currently offers the MSE graduate program in the country, other
academic institutions in the country have also plans to set up their own
programs in materials in the not so distant future. Taking the lead is Mapua Institute of Technology which has
recently started offering its undergraduate program in Materials Science and
Engineering. They have replaced their
traditional program in Metallurgical Engineering by something more oriented
towards MSE in hope of increasing enrollment figures. The
enrollment statistics in the MSE graduate program at the College of
Engineering alone as of academic year 2002-2003 in all year levels total to
72 for the MS MSE and 8 for the PhD MSE program. This is a comparatively high figure compared to the other
engineering graduate programs in UP.
This does not yet include enrollment figures in the MS MSE program at
the College of Science which is comparatively much lower. Every semester, not less than ten students
are accepted into the program at the College of Engineering. However, most of these students enter only
on a part-time basis and take only one to two subjects per semester since
they are usually working in industry. In 1999,
the UP Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
pioneered the BS Materials Engineering program. This addressed certain deficiencies in the traditional BS
Metallurgical Engineering program which did not provide adequate education to
deal with a wider range of materials, especially those encountered in the
semiconductor and electronics industry such as molding compounds, die-attach
materials, semiconductors, ceramic substrates, and the like. By removing the Mineral Processing and
Extractive Metallurgy part of the Metallurgical Engineering curriculum and
replacing these with courses such as Electrical and Magnetic Materials,
Polymer Materials, Ceramic Materials, Composite Materials, IC Packaging
Technology, Failure Analysis and Materials Testing, etc., the BS Materials
Engineering curriculum would now produce graduates who will be more suited to
the needs of the semiconductor and electronics industry. Unlike
the graduate program in MSE which is a joint offering with the College of
Science, the BS Materials Engineering program is solely under the DMMME. There are a total of 13 faculty members,
majority of which have either PhD or MS, involved in the teaching of
Materials Engineering courses. Many of
the students enrolled in the MS MSE program are working students who are
usually employed in the semiconductor and electronics industries. There is a high demand now for materials
expertise in industry especially in the area of failure analysis and new
packaging materials. In 1999,
the program accepted a pilot batch of incoming third year engineering
students who shifted from the other disciplines to this new program. Majority of the students of this pilot
section graduated in April, 2002 after three years of their acceptance in the
program. If we look at the enrollment
figures in Table 1, the incoming freshmen for AY 2002-2003 have practically
reached the set quota of 75 Materials Engineering freshmen students per year
(or two sections per year).
Considering also the batch of students from first to third year level,
there are now more Materials Engineering students compared to Metallurgical
Engineering students. The positive
feedback from the earlier graduates has certainly played a role in enticing
the high school graduates to take a career in Materials Engineering. Table 1. Student
Population of the UP Dept. of Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
(AY 2002-2003). A. Undergraduate
B.
Graduate (All year levels)
Materials Engineering ResearchDue to its highest concentration of faculty and students in materials, the University of the Philippines Diliman can be considered to be the center of Materials Engineering research in the Philippines. The bulk of the research output consists of undergraduate and graduate thesis studies of students in Materials Science and Engineering. There are also research projects undertaken by individual faculty but many of these projects will also involve the students. The research covers a wide range of topics on all types of materials and the scope of the investigation is usually limited by the local availability of materials and equipment. Funding for research in the academe may come from various
sources. For example, in the past, funds amounting to over 2 million
pesos per year have been sourced by the UP MMME Department from the
Philippine Council for Advanced Science and Technology Research and
Development (PCASTRD) under the Department of Science and Technology, one of
the primary research funding government agencies. Faculty and graduate students doing their thesis in UP can also
tap some funds from the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research and
Development (OVCRD) amounting to 60,000 pesos for Ph.D. level and 30,000
pesos for M.S. level research. The
Center of Higher Education (CHED) also provides financial grants to
universities with Center of Excellence (COE) or Center of Development (COD)
status, part of which can be channeled for research or upgrade and repair of
laboratory equipment. The existing
CHED grant to Centers of Excellence is 3 million pesos per year while for
COD-Category 1, it is 1 million pesos per year. Students can also get sponsorship of their studies from
industry which could provide them needed materials, access to certain
equipment not found in the university, or even some financial support. This year, one of the major players in the
semiconductor and electronics industry, Intel Technology Phils., Inc. has
initiated a research collaboration involving one undergraduate Materials
Engineering and five graduate MSE students at the UP College of Engineering. There is also an upcoming project by the
same company to support the rehabilitation and upgrade of the Transmission
Electron Microscope facility at the UP College of Engineering to promote
high-level research in materials in the country as well as improve the quality
of the existing MSE program.
Assistance by foreign institutions in research undertakings had also
been made available in the past. An
example is the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
Exchange-Scientist Program (about one-month duration) which provides
opportunity for the faculty to do research in a Japanese university. The National Institute of Physics (NIP)
has close linkage with some Japanese universities which have provided them
with assistance in research undertakings involving liquid crystals or plasma
deposition. Research
in materials is also being done outside the University of the Philippines in
academic institutions such as MSU-IIT, MMSU, DLSU (Dept. of Physics, Dept. of
Chemistry). There are also government
institutions mandated to do fundamental and applied research on certain
materials such as the Metals Industry and Development Center (metals and
alloys, coatings, heat treatment, foundry technology, corrosion), Industry
Technology and Development Institute or ITDI (corrosion, ceramics, polymers),
Philippine Nuclear Research Institute or PNRI (materials degradation,
magnetic materials). There is also
some research on materials conducted in the private industry, but limited
usually to the major industry players who have the required laboratory
facilities. Many of these studies may
be confidential in nature and some results may not at all be presented in
technical conferences. At the
University of the Philippines, topics for research by a Department or
Institute in the area of materials will depend on whether it is within the
expertise of the faculty, and on the existing facilities and availability of
materials. For instance at the MMME
Department, focus areas will usually be in the category of metals and alloys
(e.g. Cu-Sn shape memory alloy, precipitation hardening of manganese bronze),
films and coatings (e.g.. thermal stability of titanium silicide films with
nitride capping, polysilicon and silicon nitride film deposition by LPCVD),
materials degradation (e.g. cyanate ester based die-attach material, extent
of degradation in recycled polymers, corrosion), microstructure modification
treatments (e.g., heat treatment, transformation toughening of zirconia-based
ceramic), failure analysis, and materials issues in the semiconductor and
electronics industries (e.g. intermetallic formation in lead-free solders,
mechanisms of die cracking, thermomechanical behavior of flex substrates, and
copper dendrite formation). The
Department is also developing expertise (e.g. patterning and layering
studies) in the area of semiconductor device fabrication in line with
developing future prototyping capability.
Research in nanotechnology is being attempted and in line with this,
there is now an ongoing doctoral dissertation on polymer-clay nanocomposites. Facilities housed under the MMME
Department include equipment for materials characterization, thin film
deposition, device fabrication and metals forming. At the
National Institute of Physics, research is being done on optoelectronic materials
such as GaAs and InP, superconductors (Yt-, Bi- and Mg-based), liquid
crystals, Erbium-doped glass, plasma deposition of titanium nitride,
zirconium nitride and diamond-like-carbon (DLC) films. This is made possible by the presence of
advanced facilities for deposition as well as characterization. The list of facilities includes Molecular
Beam Epitaxy (MBE), Liquid-Phase Epitaxy (LPE), Plasma Deposition (Plasma
Sputter-type, PECVD, and Sheet Plasma), Field Emission SEM-EDS, thin film
X-ray diffractometer, and FTIR. Output of
research in Materials Science and Engineering can be disseminated by
presenting them in local conferences or submitting them for publication in
local or foreign journals. Among the
local conferences which accept technical papers in Materials Science and
Engineering are those by the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas (SPP) (held
yearly), Society of Metallurgical Engineers of the Philippines (SMEP) (held
once every two to three years), Microscopy Society of the Philippines
(Microsphil) (held yearly) and the Association of Semiconductor and
Electronics Manufacturing Engineers of the Philippines (ASEMEP) (held
yearly). Local journals where output
in materials research may be published include the Philippine Engineering
Journal, Science Diliman, and Philippine Journal of Science. The seeds
for a bright future in Materials Engineering education and research in the
Philippines have been planted and the future of the program is promising
considering the current high enrollment, high demand for graduates of the
program, networking opportunities, and gradually increasing pool of MS and
PhD holders in the country. Since the
local MS and PhD programs in MSE started in 1993, it has contributed four PhD
graduates and 14 MS graduates from the UP College of Engineering alone. Summary
Graduate
and undergraduate education in Materials Science and Engineering is being
offered in the Philippines and the University of the Philippines Diliman is
the leading institution in this field in the country. Statistics show a high enrollment in both
the graduate and undergraduate programs in materials since they started. There is also a high demand for expertise
in materials in the local semiconductor and electronics industry. Most of
the research in Materials Engineering in the Philippines is carried out in
academic institutions like UP.
Research is also being done at government institutions such as MIRDC,
ITDI and PNRI, and by major players in the local semiconductor and electronics
industry. Considering
the present high enrollment, high demand in industry for MSE graduates, more
opportunities for collaboration between academe and industry, and networking
opportunities among the universities in the Asian region, the future for
Materials Engineering research and education in the Philippines is perceived
to be promising. Acknowledgements
This presentation was sponsored by the 21st
Century COE Program of Nagaoka University of Technology for “The 1st
Regional Workshop at Hanoi”. References
1.
Department of Science
and Technology (DOST) website: http://www.dost.gov.ph/ 2.
Mapua Institute of
Technology-School of Earth and Material Science and Engineering website:
http://emse.mapua.edu.ph/ 3.
MSU-Iligan Institute of
Technology website: http://www.msuiit.edu.ph/ 4.
National Institute of
Physics website: http://www.nip.upd.edu.ph/ 5.
U.P. Department of
Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering website: http://www.upd.edu.ph/~mmme/ Contact Details
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