Formed in 2003, the School of Materials Science and Engineering has its origins in the Department of Mechanical Engineering within the former Northwest Institute of Technology which was established in 1956. The school has the following departments, centers and laboratories: the Materials Science, the Materials Processing and Control, the Composite Materials, the Experimental Teaching Center for Aerospace Materials, and the Postdoctoral Research Center. Also included is the NationalInnovation Base for Aerospace Materials Science and Technology, the National Center for Foreign Talent Introduction and Academic Exchange on Advanced Materials and Forming Technology, the State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, the National Laboratory of Thermostructural Composite, and eight other provincial and ministerial key laboratories and engineering centers.
The school offers a Doctoral Degree in Materials Science and Engineering, and also Optical Engineering. With world-class teaching and research conditions, the school has become the national base for education, scientific research, technology innovation, and academic exchanges in the field of materials science and engineering.