Materials Science MSc Program

Materials Science is an interdisciplinary educational track at Skoltech relating to research in various focus areas including Advanced Materials, Energy, Space, Biology, Computations. The broad educational program builds upon several courses taught by faculty members of Center for Energy Science and Technology and elective courses delivered by members of other CREIs including Center for Photonics and Quantum Materials and Center for Design, Manufacturing and Materials. Our lecturers conduct cutting edge research in Materials Science as evidenced by high median h-index ~30. In addition to the specialized expertise, the program delivers an interdisciplinary mix of engineering and natural sciences that is unique for the universities in Russia and beyond. Other core aspects of the program are industry immersion and the entrepreneurship and innovation component. Skoltech offers international environment and the opportunities for students to visit foreign universities and international conferences.

Curriculum

The education program consists of core and elective courses with recommendations for three tracks – Experimental Materials Science, Computational Materials Science and Materials Engineering, as detailed below:

Core courses

Materials Chemistry (Term 1B)

Crystal Structure Investigation Methods (Term 3)

Materials Characterization Techniques (Term 2)

Recommended electives in Experimental Materials Science

(Contact person: Stanislav Fedotov)

Catalysis of Sustainable development(Term 4)
Crystal Structure Investigation Methods (Term 3)
Electrochemistry: Fundamentals to Applications (Term 4)
Organic Chemistry for Energy Materials (Term 3)

Recommended electives in Computational Materials Science

(Contact person: Dmitry Aksenov)

Computational Chemistry and Materials Modeling (Term 2)
Structure and Property of Materials (Term 3)
Advanced Materials Modeling (Term 4)
Numerical Modeling (Term 3)
High Performance Python Lab (Term 2)

Recommended electives in Materials Engineering

(Contact person: Alexander Korsunsky)

Applied Materials and Design (Term 4)
Carbon Nanomaterials (Term 3)
Aerosol Science and Technology(Term 2)
Design of Chemical Sensors: from Fundamentals to Applications(Term 4)

Other core courses and activities

  • Innovation Workshop (Term 1A) – trademark course introducing the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation
  • Entrepreneurship and Innovation Stream (12 credits) – comprehensive set of courses on the subject
  • Industrial Immersion – 8-week full-time internship in one of Russian or foreign companies
  • Academic Mobility Program – internships in top universities world-wide
  • Research Seminar (“Advanced Materials Science”) – every MSc and PhD student presents his/her research there
  • Computational Materials Science seminar – guest lectures of leading researchers in the subject

Other electives

Wide selection of elective courses is offered to fit best your career plans, see Course catalogue. In particular

  • English, Writing, Presentation, Pedagogy – to perfect communications skills
  • Background courses in math/physics – to fill gaps in undergraduate education:
    • Quantum Mechanics (Term 1 or 5)
    • Mathematics for Engineers (Gryazina, Term 1)
  • Introductory courses on various topics – to foster interdisciplinary research:
    • Introduction to Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (Safonov, Term 5)
    • Introduction to Data Science (Term 5)
    • Principles of Applied Statistics (Term 6 or 2)
  • Advanced courses most relevant for Experimental Materials Science:
    • Fabrication Technology of Nanodevices (Antonov, Term 3 or 7)
    • Soft Condensed Matter (Term 1B)
    • High Performance Python Lab (Term 2)
    • Aerosol Science and Technology (Term 2)
    • Organic Chemistry for Energy Materials (Term 3)
    • Thermodynamics of Materials (Term 4)
    • Catalysis of Sustainable development (Term 4)
  • Advanced courses most relevant for Computational Materials Science:
    • Numerical Modeling (Shapeev, Term 3 or 7)
    • Numerical Linear Algebra (Oseledets, Term 6)
    • Machine Learning (Burnaev, Term 7 or 3)
    • Deep Learning (Lempitsky, Term 4 or 8)
    • Machine Learning in Structural Bioinformatics and Chemoinformatics (Popov, Term 4 or 8)
    • Scientific Computing (Yarotsky, Term 5)
    • Mathematical Methods in Engineering and Applied Science (Kasimov, Terms 5-6)
    • Foundations of Multiscale Modeling: Kinetics (Brilliantov, Term 7)
    • Introduction to Linux and Supercomputers (Term 2 or 6)
  • Advanced courses most relevant for Materials Engineering:
    • Design of Chemical Sensors (Fedorov, Term 4)
    • Materials Selection in Design (Chugunov, Salimon, Term 6 or 2)
    • Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (Sukhorukov, Term 4)
    • Fundamentals of Additive Technologies (Shishkovsky, Term 7 or 3)

Master thesis

Skoltech professors offering Master projects in Materials Science are


Additional information can be found here:

The program is managed by:

  • Director of the program Stanislav Fedotov
  • Director of the CEST CREI Artem Abakumov
  • Coordinator of the program Dmitry Aksenov
  • Administrator of education at CEST Ekaterina Guseva
  • Industrial Immersion program manager Dmitry Pogozhev

The curriculum development group includes Profs. A.Abakumov, D. Aksenov, S.Fedotov, including Andriy Zhugayevich, Sergey Tretyak, Keith Stevenson and other faculty members. This development has been started in 2014 and incorporates educational and research standards of leading institutions in Materials Science and Engineering worldwide such as MIT/DMSE and LANL/CINT. In Russian education system the program is accredited as 22.04.01 “Материаловедение и технологии материалов”.