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Specialties worth picking early

• Semiconductors and thin films

  The highest paying corner of the field, clustered around chip plants in Arizona, Texas, Oregon and New York.

• Batteries and energy storage

  Fast growing, and one of the few places a materials discovery turns into a product quickly.

• Metallurgy and failure analysis

  ASM International (the materials engineering society) runs certificate programs in failure analysis, metallurgy, metallography, heat treating and corrosion.

• Polymers and composites

  Aerospace, sporting goods and packaging. Lighter and stronger is a permanent demand.

• Biomaterials

  Implants, stents and anything that has to sit inside a body without the body rejecting it.