Graduate study in Aerospace Engineering provides qualified students with opportunities to further their education with advanced courses, as well as to exercise and sharpen skills developed as part of their undergraduate training. The Department of Aerospace Engineering offers programs of study leading to the Master of Aerospace Engineering (M.A.E.), Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees. The M.A.E. degree program is the most popular among off-campus students, however, since it requires no on-campus residency. Admission to the graduate program as an outreach student is limited to students having an undergraduate degree in aerospace or mechanical engineering. Degrees in other disciplines are not appropriate for advanced study through the outreach program.
Earning a degree through the outreach program will require a graduate student to take courses in a broad range of aerospace engineering courses, which may include aerodynamics, computational fluid dynamics, flight dynamics and control, orbital mechanics, propulsion, structures, and structural dynamics. Due to the limited number of course offerings, it is generally not possible for a student to specialize in any one particular technical area.
Interdisciplinary study in other engineering departments and in engineering-related fields such as physics, mathematics, and computer science is also possible. Flexibility exists for each student to plan his/her individual program of study.
The Master of Aerospace Engineering degree is a non-thesis degree for which the student must complete an approved program of at least 33 semester hours of coursework at the 6000-level or above. At least half of the required coursework must be in aerospace engineering courses. Students for this degree are also required to pass an on-campus Graded Presentation Examination during their last semester of study
(M.A.E.) is available with
* A minimum of 33 semester hours must be completed at the 6000 level or above, at least half of which must be in aerospace engineering courses.
* An on-campus Graded Presentation Examination must be passed during the student's final semester of study.
