Aerospace Engineering

Curriculum and Requirements

Graduate Curriculum and Requirements

The MSAE curriculum provides a breadth of experience in aerospace topics. The students in this program should complete courses in fundamental disciplines of aerospace engineering and focus on a particular area through technical elective courses. The approximate length of the program is two years. All students should take a minimum of 30 units of courses. These courses are offered in three categories:

I. Core Curriculum Courses:

The core curriculum includes six technical courses in the aerospace engineering discipline. All students are required to take these courses:

  • EGR 5110 - Numerical Methods
  • ARO 5060 - Aerospace Structures
  • ARO 5090 - Astronautics
  • ARO 5100 - Airbreathing Propulsion Systems
  • ARO 5450 - Optimal Control & Estimation
  • ARO 5770 - Aerodynamics of Wings and Bodies

See the aerospace portion of the University catalog for information about all aerospace engineering courses.

II. Technical Elective Courses:

These courses are selected based on the popular demand of MSAE students each year. The students must choose a minimum of three elective courses to complete the degree requirements. The aerospace engineering technical elective courses are:

  • ARO 5080 - Finite Element Analysis of Structures
  • ARO 5140 - Rocket Propulsion
  • ARO 5150 - Missile Engineering
  • ARO 5180 - Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • ARO 5210 - Structural Dynamics
  • ARO 5220 - Robust Control of Nonlinear Systems
  • ARO 5280 - Hypersonic Aerodynamics
  • ARO 5330 - Digital Flight Control Systems
  • ARO 5430 - Aircraft System Identification
  • ARO 5460 - Orbit Determination and Estimation
  • ARO 5520 - Optimization-Based Aircraft Flight Control Design
  • ARO 5780 - Aircraft Stability
  • ARO 5810 - Spacecraft Design
  • ARO 5910 - Aircraft Design
  • EGR 5360 - Composite Materials
III. Culminating Experience:

All MSAE students must work on an MS project with an advisor. An advisor should approve the project, and the student is expected to develop technical work that must be presented before a defense committee at the end of the program. The student should also write a technical report that needs to be submitted to the Department.

Students should take a minimum of 3 units of EGR 6910 and EGR 6950 while working on the project.

Prerequisite Courses:

If you join the program with a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering, you need to take Low-speed Aerodynamics (equivalent to ARO 3011) and High-speed Aerodynamics (equivalent to ARO 3111), which are required for some of our core courses. You may also consider taking Aircraft Stability and Control (equivalent to ARO 4050), which is required for some of our technical electives. Please review the roadmap posted on this website for more guidance.

Resources:

Here are some additional resources to consider.