2021 PhD Visit Experience
February 17, 18, 19, 2021
This page contains all necessary information for our virtually visiting PhD applicants.
Don't hesitate to contact graduate advisor Nicole Simmons with any questions.
Note: All times are Mountain Standard.
Wednesday, Feb. 17 - Wednesday Zoom Registration Link
- 9:00 am – Department Introductions
- Graduate Advisors: Nicole Simmons and Waleska Rivera-Shon
- Department Chair: Professor Brian Argrow
- 9:20 am – Graduate Program Overview
- Professor Marcus Holzinger
- 10:00-10:15 am –Focus Area Introductions
- 10:15-11:00 am – Focus Area Breakout Sessions
- Deep dive into research within focus areas
- 11:00-11:30 am – Break
- 11:30 am – Smead AES Inclusive Culture Committee
- Professor Eric Frew
- 12:00-1:00 pm – Student Experience Q&A with Faculty
- A chance for an open conversation with some of our faculty, including our focus area leads, about aspects of working and studying in the Smead Aerospace PhD program, and a chance to ask faculty questions about their expectations of you, air any concerns you may have, and gain a better sense of how we work to ensure you have the best possible experience during your time as a student here. Feel free to continue asking these kinds of questions to current aerospace students and to follow up with faculty during lunch and in the afternoon faculty/applicant one-on-ones.
- 4:30 pm – Aerospace Graduate Student Organization (AGSO) Student Panel (https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/98003176915)
Thursday, Feb. 18
- Laboratory Open Houses
- Lab open houses will be interspersed throughout the day. A schedule of the open houses, including Zoom links can be found at the table at the bottom of this page.
- Student Interest Group Open Houses
- 8:30-10:00 am: Aero Buffs for Engineering Education Research (https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/92400317311)
- For students interested in conducting engineering education research or using engineering education research to improve their teaching! Our group has interests in how students use engineering models, engineering curriculum design, improving engineering educational experiences for minoritized students, and integrating hands-on learning opportunities into engineering courses.
- 10:00-12:30 pm: Women of Aeronautics and Astronautics (WoAA) (https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/92058985526)
- Students interested in being part of a community of driven women, non-binary students, and allies who are passionate about creating a welcoming community for anyone interested in a career in aerospace.
- 11:00-12:30 pm: The BOLD Center and NSBE (https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/95271456992)
- 8:30-10:00 am: Aero Buffs for Engineering Education Research (https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/92400317311)
- Student Engagement Activities
- 11:00-12:00pm: Bingo Icebreakers (https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/95216708652)
- AGSO will help host a game of Bingo with conversation prompts that new students can use to get to know each other in breakout rooms. Topics will range from research to what your signature dish would be on Master Chef to what your hometown is famous for. The Bingo card can be found here.
- 12:00-1:00 pm: Pet Break and Lunch (https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/92144429036)
- Come join faculty and current students for our lunch break! Pets are strongly encouraged. If you don’t have a pet, bring a plant, or come by to meet the cats, dogs, turtles, or bunnies of CU Boulder.
- 1:30-2:30 pm: Perseverance Rover Landing Watch Party (https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/91405158951)
- The moment you’ve all been waiting for: the landing of the Mars 2020 rover, Perseverance, and its accompanying helicopter, Ingenuity. Come by to watch the landing.
- 2:30-3:30 pm: Meme Dream Team (https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/93812493583)
- Do you like memes? Enjoy this presentation full of engineer and graduate school memes. Attendees will need to decide whether they're from an aerospace engineering, mechanical engineer, physics, math, or graduate school context.
- 3:30-5:00 pm:End of day AGSO student panel (https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/94216856581
- AGSO is hosting an overflow question hour in case you didn’t get the chance to ask all of your questions during the student panel on Wednesday. We’ll invite some additional current students and open the floor to any topics.
- 11:00-12:00pm: Bingo Icebreakers (https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/95216708652)
Friday, Feb. 19
- Individual Meetings with Faculty
- To schedule a one-on-one meeting with an AES faculty member please navigate to the link here and select a time. If you are unable to find a faculty member you are interested in meting with please reach out to them directly via email to schedule a one-on-one meeting.
Thursday Lab & Research Center Open Houses
| Faculty | Lab Name | Zoom Link | Time | Who Should Attend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Minton Lab | https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/8065534616 | 11:00 am | Students interested in experimental molecular beam research. | |
https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/566720490 | 8:00-10:00 am | Students interested in astrodynamics, spacecraft autonomy, space debris, charging in space, spacecraft simulation tools, formation flying, etc. | ||
Opt Group | https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/8598065461 | 9:00-11:00 am | Students interested in continuum mechanics, multi-physics modeling and analysis, numerical simulations, design optimization | |
Link: https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/99651144755 | 9:30-10:30 am | Students interested in autonomy, controls, robotics, safe AI, algorithmic decision making, safe navigation, and formal verification research. | ||
11:00-12:00pm | Students interested in astrodynamics in multi-body systems, trajectory design, applications of dynamical systems theory and machine learning to astrodynamics problems. | |||
3:00-5:00 pm | Students interested in satellite navigation technologies in challenging environments and passive radio-based remote sensing technologies for space weather monitoring, atmospheric profiling, ocean and land surface properties measurement. | |||
Cosmic Dust Analyzers, Dust Accelerator | 8:30-10:00 am | Students interested in working with cosmic dust detector and analyzer instruments on space missions, or supporting laboratory measurements using the unique dust accelerator facility. See more at impact.colorado.edu | ||
3:00-5:00 pm | Students interested in the intersection between astrodynamics, spacecraft autonomy, and planetary science. | |||
10:00-12:00 pm | Students interested in the Space Environment, including the ionosphere, magnetosphere, and radiation belts, and interested in space instrumentation | |||
10:00-11:30 am | Students interested in Space Domain Awareness, Space Traffic Management, and Planetary Defense. We use (astro)dynamics, controls, information theory, and a healthy mix of theorems, software, and hardware (telescopes!). | |||
Small Satellites, Software Defined Radios, Radar & Remote Sensing (STIG and 443 Lab) | 11:00-12:00 pm | Students interested in the development of small satellites, embedded software, software defined radios, meteor radar and RF based remote sensing of the Earth and atmosphere. Projects are funded by NSF, NASA and the Air Force and may include field work. | ||
11:00-12:00 pm | Students interested in the lidar instrumentation and technology breakthroughs, atmosphere and space science discoveries, photonics and spectroscopy principles and applications, as well as field work in Antarctica and other parts of the world. | |||
https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/92148653420 | 10:00-11:00 am | Students interested in navigation applications especially in space, GNSS algorithms, technology and applications, PNT (Position, navigation, and timing) systems, space applications of quantum sensing. (COMPASS: Clocks, orbits, multipath, positioning, astrodynamics, satellites, space domain awareness) | ||
Macdonald Lab | https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/98610481220 | 10:00-11:00 am | Students interested in computational hypersonics research, including topics related to gas phase chemistry and turbulence. | |
Data-driven Modeling and Uncertainty Quantification Lab | 10:00-11:00 am | Students interested in data-driven modeling, uncertainty quantification, machine learning, reduced order modeling, and their applications in computational solid and fluid mechanics | ||
https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/92097802514 | 10:00-11:00 am | Students interested in the study and support of life in space. | ||
https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/96781467371 | 11:00-12:00 pm | Students interested in the study and application of space dynamics to exploration, science and math. | ||
zoom.com/my/zsunberg | 1:00-2:00 pm | Students interested in artificial intelligence that enables autonomous vehicles to operate safely and efficiently in the presence of uncertainty. | ||
| Francisco López Jiménez | https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/92016910651 | 9:00-10:00 am and | Students interested in lightweight structures and composite materials | |
CU Aerospace Nanoscale Transport Modelling (CUantam) Laboratory | https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/97362764212 | 10:00-12:00 pm | Students interested in developing materials design models for thermoelectric, radiation hard microelectronic, neuromorphic chip and quantum computing devices, using first-principles and deep learning approaches | |
https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/94994661437 | 11:00-12:00 pm | Students interested in experimental measurements in primarily low-speed, unsteady flows including combusting flows, gust interactions, dynamic stall, and active flow control. | ||
| Frew Group | https://cuboulder.zoom.us/j/9654697140 | 2:00-2:30 pm | Students interested in autonomous flight of heterogeneous unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and field robotics. |