About us
The Department of Materials Science was founded in February 1997 as one of the three Departments of the former Second Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Natural Sciences of the University of Milan, which co-founded the Bicocca University of Milan in 1998.
The choice to create a Department of Materials Science arises from the experience of the School of Specialization in Materials Science established in the Università Statale by a group of physicists and solid state chemists who felt the necessity of bridging the gap accumulated by our country as compared to the rest of Europe in the field of new materials, a critical and essential area for the technological growth and production of the nation. Therefore, since its foundation, the experience of Materials Science in the Milan area identifies three pillars of development: training, research, and interaction with the productive world. Consistently, the Department supports a strong synergy between its three missions, a choice that allowed over the years a growth which is both qualitative and quantitative (from 29 members at its foundation to the current 47 Professors, 27 Assistant professors, 12 technicians and 4 technologists as well as several post-docs and PhD students). This allows the Materials Science degree course not only to survive the many difficulties related to the educational reorganizations of the last two decades but also to grow and to seed other successful teaching experiences.
The Department offers a wide educational program, consisting of three Bachelor degree courses (three years of duration), two Master degree courses and a research doctorate.
The Department is responsible for the Bachelor courses in Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Chemical Science and Technology, and Optics and Optometry. In addition to the Bachelor degrees, the Master degree courses in Materials Science and Nanotechnology and Optometry and Vision Science (both fully taught in English) and the Ph.D. in Materials Science and Nanotechnology.
The Department guarantees to all courses large and modern laboratory facilities, to ensure an updated and high-quality training.
The classes are delivered by professors and research associates of the Department, as well as by teachers from other departments, or non-academic experts.
The students rated our Department in the year 2023-2024 with 8.0/10 for the aspects related to the course organization and the teaching effectiveness, and 7.8/10 as overall satisfaction.
The Department of Materials Science focuses its research activity in the field of functional materials. Over the years, also stimulated by the extraordinary growth of nanotechnologies worldwide, the Department has extended the research of bulk functional materials towards the nanosciences and their technological applications.
Within the spirit of the Materials Science, departmental research benefits from the simultaneous presence of skills in the chemical area and physical area, and the close link and continuous exchange between experimental and theoretical-computational research. Departmental research covers a wide range of topics, from materials for energy to electronics, from nanomedicine to optics and optoelectronics, from functional polymers to sensors. The Department also includes state-of-the-art research laboratories for the preparation, characterization and analysis of materials, together with advanced scientific calculation infrastructures.
The quality of departmental research is witnessed by a dense network of international collaborations and by the ability to attract resources for research through national and international competitive projects, which guarantee the Department a total annual budget of more than 5.5 millions euro.
In 2018 the Department of Materials Science received from the MIUR ministry the qualification of Department of Excellence.
Following the mission of Materials Science, the Department pursued the development of scientific, technological and training relationships with local industries, extending over the years the interchange with the world of industrial manufacturing beyond national borders. The Department also takes part in initiatives to exploit the results of research, as witnessed over the years by the foundation of spin-offs (companies initiated by university staff) as well as in the filing of several national and international patents.
As a service center, the Department of Materials Science provides companies and individuals with analytical, measurement and characterization services (third-party activities).
Another important activity is Public Engagement, throughout the continuous attendance to the main events of scientific dissemination both at local and national levels, and with an intense and qualified publication activity. Beyond these activities, the Department has a well-established tradition in the college counseling for high school students both at the local university level and at the national level, through the project "Piano Lauree Scientifiche" (Scientific Degrees), in which the Department has the task to coordinate the counseling initiatives for Materials Science in Italy.
The Department of Materials Science has a strong propensity for international projection of its research and training activities related to the special characteristics of advanced materials research and development.
The Department is core partner of two European networks for research and training:
- the PCAM - Physics and Chemistry of Advanced Materials network for European-level training of PhDs with expertise in Materials Science;
- the KIC Raw Materials network dedicated to R&D of innovative materials for saving and replacing rare and/or strategic elements for European industries.
The Department's educational offerings are oriented toward internationalization at all its levels:
Bachelor's Degree
The Degree Course in Chemical Science and Technology is accredited CHEMISTRY EUROBACHELOR® for recognition of the degree at European level. This accreditation can be used for automatic access to Master's and 2nd level degree courses in Europe and to demonstrate European educational standards when seeking employment in chemical industries or public institutions.
Master's Degree
The international Master's Degree courses in Materials Science and Nanotechnology and Optometry and Vision Science are delivered in English. The course in Materials Science and Nanotechnology also offers the opportunity to obtain a double degree from a foreign university under the SuMA project (Degree in Sustainable Materials), sponsored by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).
Ph.D. program
The Ph.D. program in Materials Science and Nanotechnology adheres to the European PCAM network as a founding member. The Department is also a member of several international doctoral networks under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) program. As part of the Horizon Europe research funding action, the MSCA networks are the most prestigious European programs for higher education and student exchange research activities in the European Union.
- 4 PHOTON - Novel Photon Emitters, an MSCA network for training experts in quantum photonics (https://www.4photon.unimib.it/research);
- SURFICE - Smart surface design for efficient ice protection and control, to prepare experts in the field of surface technology (https://www.surfice-itn.eu/project/);
- DYNAMO - DYnamic control in hybrid plasmonic NAnopores: road to next generation multiplexed single MOlecule detection, to train young researchers on the use of DNA-based hybrid nanotechnology (https://dynamo-nanopores.eu/).
International Mobility
All Bachelor’s, Master’s and the PhD’s Program offer the opportunity to spend periods of training abroad either in the form of course attendance (Erasmus+) or for the performance of internship/thesis activities (Erasmus+ Traineeship, Exchange Extra UE).
Joint activities
In the area of research, in addition to the participation and/or coordination of several European projects, the Department has recently established QUCAT (Quantum Nanostructure Photo-Catalysis) Joint Laboratory with South China Normal University (SCNU) in Guanzhou (China) for the development of advanced materials in the field of quantum semiconductor nanotechnology for applications in quantum photonics.
Each year, the Department hosts a large international community of Visiting Professors and Visiting Fellows who actively collaborate in the Department's research and training activities in the M.S. and Ph.D. programs.