Aerospace Engineering

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OFFICE: Engineering 308
TELEPHONE: 619-594-6074
E-MAIL: ae@sdsu.edu
WEBSITE: http://aerospace.sdsu.edu

The College of Engineering undergraduate programs in aerospace, civil, computer, construction, electrical, environmental, and mechanical engineering are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET, http://www.abet.org.

Transfer Credit

No credit will be given for upper division engineering coursework taken at an institution having an engineering program which has not been accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET, unless the student successfully completes the first 12 units of engineering work attempted at this university. At that time, and upon recommendation of the department, credit will be given for the unaccredited work.

The Major

The objectives of the aerospace engineering program are to produce Bachelor of Science graduates who will:

1. Be successfully employed in government laboratories, industry, organizations, or small businesses and contribute to the advancement of aerospace engineering and related fields;
2. Continue to advance in their careers on the merits of their skills in communication and teamwork, ethical behavior, leadership abilities, and technical problem-solving;
3. Continue their professional development by pursuing graduate degrees or utilizing educational and career building opportunities provided through their employer or professional societies.

The aerospace industry, the second-largest industry in our country, is one of the largest employers of engineers. Opportunities for employment in entry level positions in large aircraft companies, general aviation manufacturers, or government aerospace- related laboratories are good. Graduates of the program are also qualified to continue their formal education at the graduate level or to accept entry level positions in several non-aerospace fields.

Retention Policy

The engineering program expects all majors will make reasonable academic progress toward the degree. Engineering premajors who have either (1) completed major preparatory courses, earned 60 units, but have less than a 2.7 cumulative GPA; or (2) earned 60 units but have not completed major preparatory courses and/or have less than a 2.7 cumulative GPA may be removed from the premajor.

Impacted Program

The aerospace engineering major is an impacted program. To be admitted to the aerospace engineering major, students must meet the following criteria:

1. Complete with a grade of C (2.0) or better: A E 200  [or M E 200 ]; CHEM 202  (or CHEM 200 ); MATH 150 , MATH 151 ; PHYS 195 , PHYS 196 . These courses cannot be taken for credit/no credit (Cr/NC);
2. Have an overall cumulative GPA of 2.7.

To complete the major, students must fulfill the degree requirements for the major described in the catalog in effect at the time they are accepted into the premajor at SDSU (assuming continuous enrollment).

Major Restriction for Registration 

You must be in the Major (cleared impaction requirements) in order to take the upper level (300-400+) courses. This rule does not apply for the courses A E 340   and A E 341 .

Master Plan

The master plan provides an individualized advising record and a roadmap toward graduation for aerospace engineering majors. The master plan must be filed with the major adviser (https://csse.sdsu.edu/advising/advising). All students must have an updated master plan on file.  All students transferring from another institution are required to file the master plan at the time of transfer. Current SDSU students are required to file the master plan as part of their course requirements in the A E 123 course. If there is any change to the master plan that is already on file, it must be updated and refiled.

Change of Major

For students from another major, pre-major, or undeclared status, the following criteria must be met in order to switch into Aerospace Engineering:

1. Minimum C grades in MATH 150 , MATH 151 , CHEM 202  or CHEM 200 , PHYS 195  and PHYS 196 , and A E 200  or M E 200  
2. Complete a minimum of 15 units at SDSU that count toward the AE BS degree
3. Earned a minimum overall GPA of 2.7
4. Have no more than 2 course repeats on your Degree Audit

Visit the Change of Major Criteria section of the Center for Student Success in Engineering (CSSE) Advising Page for more information and for the online Interest Form that should be submitted at the end of the semester in which criteria will be met.

Faculty

Chair: Lu, Ping, Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering (B.S., Beijing Institute of Aeronautics, China; M.S.E., Ph.D., University of Michigan)

Graduate Admissions and Doctoral Adviser: Liu, Xiaofeng, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering (B.S., University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China; M.S., Ph.D., University of Notre Dame)

Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty:

Demasi, Luciano, Professor of Aerospace Engineering (B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Politecnico di Torino, Italy)

Jacobs, Gustaaf B., Professor of Aerospace Engineering (M.S., Delft University, Netherlands; Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago)

Katz, Joseph, Professor of Aerospace Engineering (B.S., M.S., D.Sc., Technion, Israel)

Venkataraman, Satchi, Professor of Aerospace Engineering (B.E., Anna University, India; M.S., Clemson University; Ph.D., University of Florida)

Bani Younes, Ahmad, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering (B.S., Jordan University of Science and Technology, Jordan; M.S., University of Dayton; Ph.D., Texas A&M University)

Chen, Jun, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering (B.S., Beihang University, China; M.S., Ph.D., Purdue University)

Liu, Xiaofeng, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering (B.S., University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China; M.S., Ph.D., University of Notre Dame)

Capriotti, Margherita, Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering (Ph.D., University of California, San Diego)

Goldshmid, Roni H., Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering (B.S., University of California, Berkeley, M.S., Ph.D., Technion, Israel)

Machuca Varela, Pablo A., Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering (Ph.D., Cranfield University, UK)

Popov, Pavel P., Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering (B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Cornell University)

Wang, Qi, Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering (B.S., Beijing University, China, M.S.E, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University)

Lecturers:

Amini, Behrooz, Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering

Butler, Geoffrey S., M.S., Aerospace Engineering

Chilukuri, Krish, Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering

Fogel, Gary B., Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering

Kharraz, Krish Ph.D., Fluid Mechanics

Nourollahi, Hamid M.S., Aerospace Engineering

Rehman, Syed Farooq Ph.D., Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering

Schraff, Andrew M.S., Civil Engineering

Adjunct Professor:

Rainer, Kurtz, Dr.-Ing, Universität der Bundeswehr, Germany

Emeritus Faculty: 

Conly, John, Ph.D., 1962-2003, Professor of Aerospace Engineering

Narang, Balbir, Ph.D., 1968-2021, Professor of Aerospace Engineering

Nosseir, Nagy, Ph.D., 1983-2015, Professor of Aerospace Engineering

Pierucci, Mauro, Ph.D., 1979-2005, Professor of Aerospace Engineering

Plotkin, Allen, Ph.D., 1985-2022, Professor of Aerospace Engineering

Shutts, William, Ph.D., 1958-1977, Professor of Aerospace Engineering

Wang, K.C., Ph.D., 1980-1999, Professor of Aerospace Engineering

Programs

• Aerospace Engineering, B.S.
• Aerospace Engineering, M.S.

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