Applied Science, Materials Science & Engineering Track, Minor

At William & Mary’s School of Computing, Data Sciences & Physics, we empower students and faculty to push boundaries through innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and cutting‑edge research. Grounded in the university’s liberal arts tradition, we cultivate ethical leaders fluent in technology, data, and science–prepared to tackle critical challenges from AI and quantum computing to societal transformation. Through immersive hands‑on learning, close mentorship, and engagement with industry and the public sector, CDSP prepares its graduates to generate new knowledge, drive meaningful change, and shape a vibrant future.

The Applied Science Program

The Department of Applied Science (http://www.wm.edu/as/appliedscience) is an interdisciplinary department that focuses on graduate education but also offers an increasingly rich lineup of undergraduate courses and programs.  The undergraduate courses are particularly suitable for physics, mathematics, chemistry, computer science, data science, neuroscience and biology. While Applied Science does currently not offer an undergraduate major, Applied Science faculty have mentored numerous self-designed majors with an Applied Science-centric curriculum. Also, minors in Applied Science are offered with a track in either Materials Science & Engineering or Computational Biology.  Applied Science cooperates with affiliated faculty from the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), as well as from the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) and the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab).

Core faculty research interests include: Biomaterials, Nanomaterials & Scanning Probe Techniques; Nondestructive Evaluation, Robotics and Medical Imaging; Nanotechnology and Thin Films, Surface Science, Accelerator Science, Electronic and Magnetic Materials Science; Laser Spectroscopy; Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance; Neurophysiology and Cell Biology; Computational Neuroscience; Biophysical Chemistry & Structural Biology; Geospatial Analysis.