Aerospace Engineering, PhD

The Ph.D. graduate program offers students the opportunity to work with award-winning faculty on a wide range of research topics including autonomous systems, robotics and controls, experimental fluid mechanics, hypersonics, computational fluid modeling, aeroacoustics, combustion, and aerospace manufacturing and materials, among others.

Admission Requirements

Admission to the aerospace engineering graduate programs normally requires a bachelor’s degree in engineering (not necessarily in aerospace engineering), a GPA of at least 3.0/4.0 on all graduate and undergraduate work, and Test of English as a Second Language scores of 550 (paper-based) / 213 (computer-based) / 80 (Internet-based). An undergraduate degree in mathematics, chemistry, or physics combined with a strong interest in engineering topics may be acceptable when certain required undergraduate courses are also taken.

Degree Requirements

Students Without an MS Degree

Course Requirements

For students without an earned MS degree, the plan of study must include the following:

36 credit hours required for a PhD degree. Residency and research courses (including ME 790 - RESEARCH IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING ) do not count toward the required credit hours.
Mathematics Electives: At least 6 credit hours from courses with prefix MA at the 500 or greater level, or from STA 570 - BASIC STATISTICAL ANALYSIS , STA 674 - REGRESSION ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS , STA 677 - APPLIED MULTIVARIATE METHODS , or STA 678 - STATISTICAL COMPUTATIONAL THEORY AND DATA VISUALIZATION: R AND SAS . Engineering courses with sufficient mathematical rigor can be used to substitute for three credit hours of the mathematics requirement following approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.
At least 18 credit hours at the 600-level or greater (ME 790 - RESEARCH IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING is excluded, and only 3 credit hours of ME 780 - SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING may be included).
Aerospace Electives: At least 24 credit hours must be taken from courses with an AER prefix.
Any additional supporting electives may be taken from other prefix courses with the advisor and committee approval.
Four semesters of AER 799 - AEROSPACE ENGINEERING GRADUATE SEMINAR .

Students With an MS Degree

Course Requirements

For students with an earned MS degree in Aerospace Engineering or a sufficiently related field, the plan of study must include the following:

18 credit hours required for a PhD degree. Residency and research courses (including ME 790 - RESEARCH IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING ) do not count toward the required credit hours.
Mathematics Electives: At least 3 credit hours from courses with prefix MA at the 500 or greater level, or from STA 570 - BASIC STATISTICAL ANALYSIS , STA 674 - REGRESSION ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS , STA 677 - APPLIED MULTIVARIATE METHODS , or STA 678 - STATISTICAL COMPUTATIONAL THEORY AND DATA VISUALIZATION: R AND SAS . Engineering courses with sufficient mathematical rigor can be used to substitute following approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.
At least 9 credit hours at the 600-level or greater (ME 790 - RESEARCH IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING is excluded, and only 3 credit hours of ME 780 - SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING may be included).
Aerospace Electives: At least 12 credit hours must be taken from courses with an AER prefix.
Any additional supporting electives may be taken from other prefix courses with the advisor and committee approval.
Four semesters of AER 799 - AEROSPACE ENGINEERING GRADUATE SEMINAR .