Aerospace Engineering

About this opportunity

The aerospace engineering program provides students with an education in technological areas critical to the design and development of aerospace vehicles and systems. The aerospace engineering programs prepare students for a variety of professional options. Concentrations in aeronautics, astronautics and autonomous vehicle systems (AVS) offer various avenues to see air and space travel in whole new ways. Creativity, imagination and research-based technical skills all combine to drive our students to an engaging and innovative development process.

Students in our aeronautics concentration learn tasks relevant to the design and analysis of aircraft, helicopters, missiles and other atmospheric vehicles. Students studying astronautics learn topics important to the engineering of rockets and spacecraft. Together the two programs give students a rigorous technical lens in solving real and timely engineering problems.

The concentration in autonomous vehicle systems provides students with a general exposure to engineering of autonomous aircraft and greater depth in one area of specific importance to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The depth areas, or “tracks”, are 1) guidance, navigation and control (GNC) and 2) communications. The senior capstone project consists of UAV design and development.

Thesis

Philosophically, the honors thesis should represent a body of work performed independently by the student or a small team of students under the guidance of a mentor. The mentor will normally be a regular faculty member, but adjunct faculty, faculty associates or other qualified professionals may sit on the thesis committee. The program requires one reader in addition to the faculty mentor. The honors research must be work performed above and beyond the normal coursework required for the BSE degree. The senior capstone design project or other projects done as a normal part of a course are not eligible to be used as the honors research.

Academic Preparation

In general, students in Aerospace Engineering complete their research and thesis in the senior year as most research topics in the field require a level of knowledge and skill acquired in the first three years of the program. Students completing the honors thesis in Aerospace Engineering must take MAE 394 prior to enrolling in MAE 492/493.

Recommended Timeline

Students should start looking for a research topic and thesis advisor during the first semester of the junior year, The activities in MAE 394 are designed to help students with identifying an appropriate topic and finding a mentor, so most students take MAE 394 in the fifth semester. During the sixth semester, students should, in consultation with the faculty advisor, prepare the research prospectus and identify a second reader. Though often students formally begin their honors research in either the sixth semester or over the summer between junior and senior years, most honors projects are completed during the final academic year.

Other Honors Opportunities

Barrett students may have the opportunity to pursue advanced research in areas such as experimental and computational aerodynamics, control of autonomous aerospace vehicles, advanced composite materials for aircraft structure, hybrid propulsion systems, and design of future air vehicles. Most upper-division AEE, courses are offered for honors credit through the honors contract. Students wishing to receive honors credit should confer with the course instructor at the beginning of the semester in order to develop a mutually acceptable plan for the honors contract activity. Most honors contracts involve either a project that extends the ideas and techniques covered in the course or outside research on topics relevant to the course work.

The Aerospace Engineering faculty conducts research in many areas of aeronautics and astronautics, and most are excited to work with Barrett students.  To find out about the faculty interests, visit our faculty page: MAE Faculty . Barrett students may use MAE 492 and MAE 493 as technical electives that count towards the BSE degree in Aerospace Engineering.