From Critical Problem to Interdisciplinary Application-Novel Material Development in Postgraduate Studies

The postgraduate students majored in materials science and engineering for a master degree are often puzzled by where and how to start their scientific investigations. The hot problems in the applied disciplines can be exploited as the good start points for a series of innovations, which comprise fine teaching materials in higher education for master students both in theory and in practice. With one of the hottest problems in pharmaceutics, i.e. the dissolution of poorly water-soluble drug as a model, and with electrospinning as the applied nanotechnology, a new strategy was suggested in the present paper to demonstrate how to initiate the development of a new functional materials from the problems encountered in the applied subjects. The successful solution of the dissolution problem associated with the poorly water-soluble drug using the electrospun polymer nanofiber is just a pertinent example for explaining this strategy. Along this strategy, many other problems in a wide variety of applied fields can be similarly exploited as the start points to provoke the postgradaute students' interests and curiosities for initiating their scientific researches.