https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2011/04/28/materials-engineering-an-important-discipline/

In Malaysia, Materials Engineering is not a popular course, partly due to lack of publicity. It is a very important discipline.

In the Materials Engineering course students learn about metallic materials, polymer materials, ceramic materials, materials processing technologies, corrosion prevention, non-destructive testing, materials impact on environment and management.

All these subjects are very useful and relevant in the industrial world.

A graduate in this field can be absorbed into many job sectors besides the material processing industry.

They can be employed in the petrochemical industry as well as power generating industry.

The scope of job is very important for our sustainable development.

Materials engineers were involved in solving the radiation leak at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan following the recent tsunami. They were able to explain why the cooling system, that was cooled through the injection of seawater, needed to be treated with boric acid.

The engineers also detected the cracks and used paint and liquid glass to seal the cracks.

They spread polymer resin in the nuclear plant to control the radiation that was a breakthrough in materials engineering.

Efforts must be made to promote materials engineering to secondary school students.