Welcome

Intro | News | History | Location | Building

History of the Department

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan was home to one of the United States' great metal mining booms in the late 1800's. Starting around 1850, native copper metal was mined, and in the 1880's and 1890's the activities grew to truly massive proportions, fed by the nation's demand for electrical wiring and other copper metal products. As an example of the scale of the operations, in 1895 the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company, just one of the major producers, paid a dividend of $25 million (1895 dollars) to its shareholders. The nearby city of Calumet, Michigan was one of the first cities in the world to install electric street lights and trolley cars.

To support the mining industry, the State of Michigan opened The Michigan Mining School in the Fall of 1886, with facilities located in the upstairs of the old Houghton Fire Hall. Metallurgy was an important part of the Mining curriculum from the start, and was apparently a separate department during the first few years. In 1894, however, the Metallurgy and Chemistry Departments were combined.

In 1897, the name of Michigan Mining School was changed to the Michigan College of Mines, and by 1904 the Metallurgy Department was apparently again a separate department, and occupied a new building.

This new building burned in 1924 and was replaced by the original McNair Hall, which was the home of the Metallurgy Department until 1972 when it was demolished to make way for construction of the Electrical Energy Resources Center.

In 1973 the Department moved into the Chemistry- Metallurgy Building, and in 1991 we moved into a brand new facility that houses the research and teaching operations today.

In the mid-1920's the Great Depression reduced the demand for mining engineers, and the Michigan College of Mines began to consider diversifying its curriculum to attract a larger student body. After considerable controversy, the Michigan State Legislature and the Governor first broadened the scope of the college's charter to permit 3 year degrees in metallurgy as well as mining, and two year degrees in several other engineering disciplines. In 1927, the state again changed the name of this institution, this time to the Michigan College of Mining and Technology, from which the nickname "Michigan Tech", was coined. With this change in name, Michigan Tech further broadened the scope of its programs, with the addition of four year undergraduate programs, graduate programs at the MS level, and the authorization to conduct research. By the mid-1930's, MTU was authorized to grant Ph.D. degrees, and in 1934, Metallurgy faculty members Corbin Eddy and Roy Drier received the first two Ph.D. degrees awarded by our institution.

By the early 1960's, with the final decline of the local copper mining industry, came additional incentive to further broaden the scope of the college. The name was again changed; for a brief period, this institution was known as the Michigan College of Science and Technology and eventually the current name, Michigan Technological University, was adopted.

Over the years since its inception in the late 1800's, our undergraduate program evolved from Mineral Dressing to Metallurgy, to Metallurgical Engineering, to Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. In July of 2000 the department made its most recent name change to Materials Science and Engineering. The name change was made to better reflect the breadth of instructional and research activities in which our students and faculty are engaged. Our new name is also consistent with our sister departments in other institutions, including many that started out as "Metallurgy" or "Mineral Dressing" departments.

Our undergraduate program has grown to the point where it is one of the largest undergraduate programs of its kind in the nation. The present scopes of both instructional and research programs include broad multidisciplinary approaches to the beneficiation, refining, processing, development, application, and recycling of engineering and engineered materials. We are extraordinarily proud of our graduates, many of whom have achieved national recognition in our profession and as businesspersons, researchers, and administrators.

Top