The Library

Materials Science

Collection Statement

The Materials Science collection supports the research and curricular needs of the faculty and MS/PhD students in the UCSD Materials Science & Engineering Program (MSE), as well as other groups on campus involved in materials research. This is a highly interdisciplinary program, with more than 50 affiliated faculty from the Departments of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, NanoEngineering, Physics, Chemistry, Bioengineering, and Structural Engineering, as well as Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Skaggs School of Pharamcy & Pharmceutical Sciences, the School of Medicine and the Biological Sciences Division.

Broadly, the MSE research covers a wide array of materials: magnetic/nano materials, structural, electronic, energy and biomaterials. Areas of emphasis include: study of microstructure-property relationships; design of electronic, superconducting, magnetic and nanomaterials for electronic and high-tech device and energy applications; optical and chemical materials for telecom and display applications; biomaterials and medical device materials for biotech applications; experimental investigation and theoretical modeling of the mechanical behavior of materials; and advanced composite materials for civil structures.

Primary Library of Congress Call Numbers

Under the Library of Congress classification system, most of the materials science books are generally found in these call number ranges: TA 401-492 (materials of engineering and construction), R 857 (bioengineering materials), and TK 7869-7872 (materials for electronics), with additional titles found in scattered ranges in the QC's, QD's, TD's, TJ's, TK's, TL's, TN's, TP's and TS's. For specific call numbers, please check the online catalogs Roger and/or Melvyl.


Key Resources for Materials Science

  • SciFinder Scholar & SciFinder Web – core index to the chemical literature, including materials science
  • Web of Science – index and cited reference searching for the sciences
  • Additional literature indexes: Pubmed (bioengineering materials), Compendex (structural materials), Inspec (electronic materials), Engineered Materials Abstracts and Metadex
  • Conference Proceedings: Materials Research Society, SPIE, Materials Science Forum, American Institute of Physics
  • Property data collections and reference works: Knovel, ASM Handbooks, Encyclopedia of Materials: Science & Technology

  • See all resources for Materials Science


New Books in Materials Science


Course Materials


Contact Information

Teri Vogel (tmvogel@ucsd.edu)
Librarian for Chemistry & Biochemistry, Materials Science, NanoEngineering & Chemical Engineering
Science & Engineering Library
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive, 0175E
La Jolla, CA 92093-0175
(858) 534-1216