Senior undergraduate students are required to take a two-semester synthesis course in which they design, develop and manufacture a device, component or machine. This provides the opportunity for students to apply much of the knowledge gathered over the preceding three years in the development of a product. Students may volunteer to participate in a variety of design competitions, such as the Formula SAE Team, which won the Formula SAE Competition in Melbourne, Australia, December 8 - 10, 2000. A variety of learning experiences outside of the classroom give our Aerospace Engineering undergraduate students an advantage when looking for jobs. Throughout the Program, laboratory courses allow students to see theory put into practice.
Many students participate in research, working with graduate students and faculty advisors.
Two of our graduate alumni are astronauts. Advances in aerospace technology have been so rapid in recent years that the successful aerospace engineer is one who has developed an ability to generate, analyze, and evaluate new concepts and convert them into reliable products which are environmentally acceptable to society. Since today's technology may be tomorrow's obsolescence, the student is given opportunities to practice and perfect a learning ability through the study of basic and engineering sciences in addition to the humanities. The areas of aerothermodynamics, flight mechanics, and structural mechanics are given equal stress in the curriculum, which culminates in a student-initiated laboratory project and a vehicle design project. To increase versatility, a student may choose elective courses to develop strength in a secondary field of interest outside the major.