Cade May

Cade May is researching his way to the future of space, aircraft and his career. A senior in aerospace engineering from Birmingham, he has spent his last three years at Auburn doing undergraduate research on FlightStream software and now hopes to apply his research skills to the aerospace industry.

Why Auburn

“I chose Auburn because it’s the best engineering school in the state, and it provides a lot of opportunities. I didn’t even realize before I got to Auburn how much research is being done here. I knew it was a great school because I also have two siblings who graduated from Auburn — one of whom also studied engineering.”

 Why engineering

“I love math and physics, and I’ve always loved planes, so aerospace just made sense. I grew up playing with flight simulators. This past semester, I went with a class to the Delta headquarters in Atlanta and got to try out a full Boeing 737 flight simulator. We tested it out and got to apply what we’ve been learning in our classes, which was a cool full-circle moment for me.”

Undergraduate research project

“I thought undergraduate research would be a great application of my skill set — an individual project, on a higher level than class. In my sophomore year, I started working under Roy Hartfield, aerospace engineering professor. We work on a software he developed with then-doctoral student Vivek Ahuja called FlightStream, an aerodynamics tool. Aircraft development is a very costly process because there are many parameters to calculate to demonstrate that an aircraft is safe. FlightStream makes it so that these parameters take a lot less time to calculate.”

Future plans

“My first step will be going to grad school to continue researching. I’d like to apply my skills to the industry. I’ve already been able to do that during an internship this summer with General Dynamics Mission Systems in Marion, Virginia, where I introduced FlightStream to them. I would also love to create my own designs and perform experiments to investigate the cutting edge of aircraft design. My dream job would be working for an organization like NASA, where I could use my research skills every day. I want to work somewhere where everyone has the shared vision of working for the betterment of society.”