Aerospace Engineering Sciences

Class of 2000 Graduates with Strong Communication Skills and Hands-on Experience

Aerospace engineering students (from left to right) Naomi Mosser, Ryan Kerr, Cary Olson and Jim Bixler prepare their Tornado Chaser Aircraft for a test flight.

The first class of undergraduates to successfully complete the new Aerospace Engineering Sciences curriculum, a reform that began when the Class of 2000 entered its sophomore year, graduates this May. Named for this group of students, Aerospace Curriculum 2000 is now firmly in place with required student participation in hands-on design, fabrication, and testing of real devices.

A welcome by-product of the reform is the camaraderie developed among students who go through the new hands-on program. Trent Yang, this year's Outstanding AES Senior, remembers "everybody in a lab until 11 p.m. when it closed, writing their papers." He found one of the most useful aspects of the new curriculum is "getting to see how it's applied, because all the disciplines can be involved. You become familiar with a lot of things you would not have known through classroom lectures."

Senior Suzanne Tuttle, a member of the student Curriculum Improvement Team, is impressed that "from the beginning, the students' suggestions were really listened to." Sue believes she was very prepared for her summer internship with Lockheed Martin, especially in her abilities to present information to others and to write technical reports. Strong communication skills have given her a solid lead in the competitive market, which lies ahead after graduation. "This curriculum gives you a well-rounded confidence in being able to function as an engineer in the world," she says. More

Aerospace Engineering Sciences Faculty