Aerospace Engineering

The department offers graduate programs that lead to the degrees master of engineering, master of science, and doctor of philosophy with major in aerospace engineering and minor work to students taking major work in other departments.  For all graduate degrees, it is possible to establish a co-major program with another graduate degree-granting department. Within the aerospace program, students can specialize in one or more of the following areas: aerospace systems design, atmospheric and space flight dynamics, computational fluid dynamics, control systems, wind engineering, fluid mechanics, optimization, structural analysis, and non-destructive evaluation.

Master of Engineering (with creative component) – A minimum of 27 credits of acceptable coursework is required, with at least 18 credits of coursework in Aerospace Engineering, and a minimum of 3 credits of Aer E 599 (creative component).  The POS for this degree must include at least one course from 4 out of the 5 Aer E core areas. Each student is required to present an open seminar as the first portion of the final thesis defense.   

Master of Engineering (course work only option) – A minimum of 30 credits of acceptable coursework is required, with at least 18 credits of coursework in Aerospace Engineering.  The POS for this degree must include at least one course from 4 out of the 5 Aer E core areas.

Master of Science – A minimum of 21 credits of acceptable coursework, with at least 15 credits of coursework in Aerospace Engineering. In addition, a minimum of 6 credits in Aer E 699 (thesis research) must be taken. This means that there can be 21‐24 credits of coursework with 6‐9 credits of thesis research (for a total of 30 credit hours), while satisfying the above minimum requirements. Further, a thesis is required, which has been found acceptable to the POSC following a thesis defense.  The POS for this degree must include at least one course from 3 of the 5 Aer E core areas. Each student is required to present an open seminar as the first portion of the final thesis defense. 

Aerospace Engineering Core Areas

Aerospace Systems and Design

• Aer E 563 – Introduction to Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO)
• Aer E 565 – System Engineering
• Aer E 568 – Large‐Scale Complex Engineered Systems (LSCES)
• Aer E 511X – Wind Energy System Design

Aircraft Structures

• Aer E 521 ‐ Airframe Analysis
• Aer E 569 ‐ Mechanics of Composite and Combined Materials
• EM 514 ‐ Advanced Mechanics of Materials
• EM 525 ‐ Finite Element Analysis

Astrodynamics and Flight Dynamics

• Aer E 551 ‐ Orbital Mechanics
• Aer E 577 ‐ Linear Systems
• Aer E 578 ‐ Nonlinear Systems
• EM 548 ‐ Advanced Engineering Dynamics

Incompressible/Compressible Aerodynamics

• Aer E 532 ‐ Compressible Fluid Flow
• Aer E 541 ‐ Incompressible Flow Aerodynamics
• Aer E 545 – Advanced Experimental Techniques for Thermal‐Fluid Studies
• Aer E 546 – Computational Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer I

Guidance, Navigation, and Control

• Aer E 531 ‐ Automatic Control of Flight Vehicles
• Aer E 556 ‐ Guidance and Navigation of Aerospace Vehicles
• Aer E 573 ‐ Random Signals and Kalman Filtering
• Aer E 574 ‐ Optimal Control

• Iowa State requires a degree it considers comparable to a US bachelor’s or higher degree from a regionally accredited college or university prior to beginning graduate studies. (For foreign institutions, that would be recognition by the Ministry of Education.) 
• Our graduate application form is only available online. The $100 application fee for international students is nonrefundable. If you prefer not to pay the application fee by credit card, you may complete and print the online application, and attach your personal check. All checks should be in US dollars and made payable to Iowa State University.
• Grade Point Average (GPA)
• Statement of Purpose
• Online Recommendations
• Internet Based TOEFL (iBT) 79, Paper-Based TOEFL (PBT) 550
• IELTS 6.5
• Graduate Records Examination (GRE)
• Financial Statement

Scholarships

• All-USA Academic Award
• The Whirlwind Steel Student Scholarship