AllAfrica: Stuff is Cool, If You're a Materials Scientist

If postgraduate students at the Pan-African School of Materials (PASMAT) are asked what they're studying this month, they aren't being flippant if their answer is "stuff". That's because the field of materials science is often referred to as "the science of stuff".

Calling it "stuff", however, doesn't mean it's easily - or briefly - defined. An educational kid's site - StrangeMatter puts it this way: "Understanding how [everything you use every day] is put together, how it can be used, how it can be changed and made better to do more amazing things - even creating completely new kinds of stuff: that's what materials science is all about."

Nearly two dozen masters and doctoral students in science and engineering are attending the Pasmat course at the African University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Abuja, Nigeria, through mid-September.

Article here.