What Majors and Programs Are Offered by Ohio State's Department of Materials Science and Engineering?

Ohio State's Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) offers two distinct undergraduate majors: Materials Science and Engineering and Welding Engineering. Both sit within the same department, and the site promotes them together through separate open house events — MSE on Friday, October 2, 3–6 PM, and Welding Engineering on Friday, October 9, 3–6 PM. If you are choosing between the two, the clearest signal on the site is how each is framed: MSE is presented as "one major, limitless applications," while Welding Engineering is promoted with "100% job placement before graduation."

The two undergraduate majors

Materials Science and Engineering

The department's open house page describes MSE as "one major. Limitless applications." That framing points to a broad, fundamentals-driven field: the study of how materials are structured and how that structure determines their properties and performance. It is the kind of major that feeds into many industries rather than one narrow career track.

Welding Engineering

Welding Engineering is listed as a separate major with its own open house. The site's headline claim for it is "100% job placement before graduation," which signals a program tightly connected to industry demand. It is not a sub-track of MSE on this page — it is presented as a parallel undergraduate option.

How the two compare at a glance

Both are described under the department's "Undergraduate Programs Open Houses" heading, so they are undergraduate-entry programs rather than graduate-only offerings.

Beyond the majors: seminars and research activity

The department is also active in research and public programming, which is useful context if you are evaluating it as a place to study. The site's events list includes recurring colloquia and seminars, such as:

• WE Colloquium talks, including "In-Space Welding at NASA: Recent Progress and Continuing Needs" and a session on laser powder bed fusion Alloy 625 welding
• MSE Colloquium and MSE Special Seminar talks, including "New Alloy Development for Hybrid Additive Manufacturing for Turbine Components" and "Engineering Optical Materials and Devices for Quantum Sensing and Communication"
• Conferences and reunions such as the International Thermal Conductivity / Thermal Expansion Conferences and the Ceramic Engineering Alumni Reunion

News items on the site cover related research and people, including work on strong, lightweight metal alloys, summer internship programs that expose high school students to manufacturing science, wireless medical implants, and a National Quantum Virtual Laboratory award.

What this means for a prospective student

• If you want a broad materials foundation that can lead into many industries, the MSE major is the one the site frames that way.
• If direct employment outcomes matter most to you, Welding Engineering is the one the site highlights with a job placement claim.
• If you want to see the department in person before deciding, the two open houses are the concrete entry points — note they fall on different dates (October 2 and October 9).

For current details on degree requirements, admission steps, and any updates to the open house schedule, check the department's own pages directly, since dates and program details can change.