PHYSICS AND MATERIAL SCIENCE: OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE INTERDISCIPLINARY LINK IN THE MECHANICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM.

Some topics foreseen in Materials Science courses in Mechanical Engineering programs can be presented in a deeper way and successfully understood by students if they are treated in a special teaching style within Physics courses. This interdisciplinary work requires the identification of the relevant topics and the definition of their treatment within Physics curricula. That includes planning and designing of academic activities, innovations in the evaluation system, and re-organization of student scientific work in the first semesters. Such didactic treatment increases the motivation of the students, starting with their initial semesters, and contributes to raising the professional skills of the future engineer.