The Department of Materials Science at Mangalore University was established as a Materials Science Division within the Department of Physics in 1988, in collaboration with reputed industries and national laboratories, as an expansion of academic programs. Subsequently, it became an independent department and has remained a pioneering centre for Advanced Materials education in Karnataka. Since 1988, it has been the sole public University in the state to offer a comprehensive M.Sc. program in Materials Science with a vision to evolve as a centre of advanced studies in materials research and to cultivate quality human resources for industries and R&D.

The department is offering M.Sc., PhD, and PG Diploma programmes in Materials Science, which are relevant to real-world materials technology. The programme encompasses courses ranging from fundamentals of daily materials to microelectronics, smart materials, and aerospace materials, fulfilling the requirements of both industries as well as R&D.

To date, 410 M.Sc. graduates have passed from this department, of which 59 graduates have qualified for the GATE/NET/KSET examinations. There were 11 M.Phil., 33 Ph.D. and two D.Sc. degrees awarded in Materials Science from the department. About 40% of our M.Sc. graduates have gone for further studies and obtained M.Tech./M.S./Ph.D. degrees in various areas of Materials Science from reputed Institutions/Universities in India and abroad, such as NITK, IISc., IGCAR, BARC, JNCASR, CLCR, IISER, Universities in Singapore, Korea, Germany, USA, etc. A good number of our students are working in R & D Laboratories, Industries, Universities and institutions around the globe as Managers, Post Docs, Research Scientists, faculty in places like GE, BARC, DRDO, ISRO, IITs, NAL, CeNSE, MIT, HHV, Thermax, CECRI, NRLC, Samsung, AMTEK, IMC-Germany, IMRE-Singapore, Nevada-USA, Canada, UK, Global Foundries, Ruhr University Germany, IMRE Singapore, etc.

Over the years, the faculty members of the department have been able to secure research grants to the tune of about 9.5 crores from various funding agencies like DOS/ISRO, DST, CSIR, UGC, NSC, AICTE, BRNS/DAE, NRB, SERB, VGST, etc. The department's research activities have resulted in approximately 223 publications in reputable national and international journals. The department has collaborative programmes with NAL, Bangalore; IISc., Bangalore; NCL, Pune; the National Autonomous University of Mexico; NSC, New Delhi; BARC, Mumbai; RVCE, Bangalore; the Dr D Premachandra Sagar Centre for advanced materials, Bangalore; and CFTRI, Mysore, etc. The research work from the department has attracted recognition to the faculty in terms of post-doctoral fellowships, Sir CV Raman Young Scientist Award, MRSI Medal, etc.