Schools

School of Materials Science and Engineering in Central South University (CSU), formerly Department of Metal Processing in 1954, renamed Department of Special Metallurgy in 1962, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 1980, finally got its present name in 2002. The School of Materials Science and Engineering belongs to the first group of schools in China that can award masters and doctoral degree, and accept post-doctor.  The materials science and engineering discipline in CSU is a national key discipline, including three secondary national key disciples: Materials Science, Material Physics and Chemistry, and Materials Processing. Presently the school combines with the Department of Materials Science, the Department of Materials Processing Engineering, the Department of Materials Physics, the Department of Materials Chemistry, the experimental center and more than 10 scientific research institutes. Cooperating with the Powder Metallurgy Research Institute of CSU, we established “the State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy “, “the Key Laboratory of Light Weight High Strength Structural Materials for Defense”. “The Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metallic Materials Science and Engineering” of the Ministry of Education, “the Key Laboratory of Non-ferrous and Rare Metallic Materials Science and Engineering " of Hunan Province, “the Sino-Russian New Material Industrial Technology Center”, and “the Sino-Australia International Light Metal Research Center” of the Ministry of Science and Technology are also built in this school. The school also takes party in the construction of “the National 2011 Collaborative Innovation Center”. According to Thomson Reuters, the total ESI citation times of materials science in Central South University is ranked 73rd in the world and belongs the top 1/1000 universities or research institutes. According to US-News, the materials science and engineering discipline in CSU belongs to the top 50th in the world.  

Adhering to the "Great Virtue, Dedicated Study, Professional Enjoyment, Outstanding Achievement" educational philosophy, after more than 60 years of construction, the school has developed to a high-level personnel education, basic research, technology innovation and transformation center on advanced non-ferrous and rare metals, glasses, ceramics, and polymers. For more than half a century, the school has attracted a group of eminent experts, such as academicians: Huang Peiyun, Zuo Tieyong, Huang Boyun, Zeng Sumin and Jin Zhanpeng. A group of well-known Alumni have graduated from this school, such as Zhao Zhengyong (chairman of communist party of Shanxi Province, Xiao Yaqing(deputy general secretary of Prime Ministry of China, Liang Wengen(founder and main share holder of Sany Group), Tang Xiuguo(CEO of Sany Group), Liu Lirong(founder of Gionee Group), Yang Yi(founder of XingHeng Group), Zhen Yulin(CEO of Alnan Aluminium lnc.), Zhong Jinming (CEO of Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry Co., Ltd),etc.

   The school has 132 staff, including 1 academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2 academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, 1 chief scientist of Chinese key project  of basic research("973" plan project), 3 outstanding scholars by the Chinese Government, 2 distinguished professor by Hunan province, and 9 outstanding scholars by Central South University . The school has about 2500 students, including more than 1500 undergraduate students and nearly 1000 post doctors and doctor and master candidates.

    In recent years, the school has undertaken more than 120 national and provincial major research projects, including 2 national "973 plan projects". Its research achievement has won more than 10 national and provincial prizes, including: 1 first class National Scientific and Technological Progress Prize and 1 second class National Scientific and Technological Progress Prize. The school applied and has been authorized nearly 500 national invention patents and has published more than 1400 in Angewandte, Advanced Functional Materials, Energy & Environmental Science, Nano Energy, Small, Acta Materialia and other famous journals. The scientific research funds of the school reach about 200 million yuan.

   In recent years, the school continually improves the teaching methods and the curriculum. Its personnel training achievement has been awarded second class National Education Achievement Prize for 3 times and first class Provincial Education Achievement Prize for 3 times.  4 courses are entitled national high quality courses. The post-doctoral training stations of materials science and engineering was named the national outstanding post-doctoral training stations. The teachers in the school has published 15 textbooks, nearly 20 monographs and auxiliary materials, including 1 national book award monograph, 1 national excellent textbook, 1 provincial award textbook. The school has awarded 2 times for its advanced education quality in the province. The more than 30 students participate in the international and national competition and win more than 50 awards each year. More than 100 group students have done their innovation in the research laboratories. The international cooperation project on the education in the materials science and engineering field between Central South University and Monash University is running in the school, which is the first international cooperation project, approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education, running in Central South University.

The school has set up many international cooperation and exchange platform, has extensive international cooperation and communication channels. It has established a long-term, stable relations of cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Washington State University, the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, RWTH Aachen University, University of Birmingham, and the University of Liverpool, the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology and Chalmers University of Technology, Russia's st Peter's State Technical University, Tokyo University, Northeastern University, Tokyo University of Technology, Australia's Monash University, the University of Queensland, the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University; The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Russia's National Institute of Light Alloy, Japan's National Institute of Material Science; China Aluminum Group, Alcoa, Arcelormittal Steel Company, Southwest Aluminum Group, the Northeast Light Alloy Co., LTD., Nanshan Aluminum Group, Chinalco Luoyang Copper Co., LTD., CNMC Albetter Albronze Co., LTD and Baoti Group co., LTD., and other international well-known universities, research institutes, enterprise group. Each year the school invited a group of related domestic and foreign well-known experts and scholars, engineering and technical experts to come to the school for teaching, teaching and research cooperation.