This paper introduces Helping Interdisciplinary Vocabulary Engineering for Materials Science (HIVE-4-MAT), an automatic linked data ontology application. The paper provides contextual background for materials science, shared ontology infrastructures, and knowledge extraction applications. HIVE-4-MAT’s three key features are reviewed: 1) Vocabulary browsing, 2) Term search and selection, and 3) Knowledge Extraction/Indexing, as well as the basics of named entity recognition (NER). The discussion elaborates on the importance of ontology infrastructures and steps taken to enhance knowledge extraction. The conclusion highlights next steps surveying the ontology landscape, including NER work as a step toward relation extraction (RE), and support for better ontologies.