Aerospace Engineering Option - Mechanical Engineering BS

Program Overview

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Aerospace Engineering Option - Mechanical Engineering BS

Overview

The aerospace engineering option allows for specialized study in all engineering aspects of air- and space-borne vehicles.

Why Study Aerospace Engineering at RIT?

• Hands-On Learning: Immersive co-op experiences in aerospace companies or in organizations that support the aerospace industry.
• Dynamic Coursework: Advanced coursework and elective courses focused on the dynamics of aerospace engineering.
• Capstone Learning Experience: A two-semester multidisciplinary senior design project focused on advancing an aspect of aerospace engineering.
• STEM-OPT Visa Eligible: The STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) program allows full-time, on-campus international students on an F-1 student visa to stay and work in the U.S. for up to three years after graduation.

Aerospace engineering focuses on developing aircraft, spacecraft, and the mechanical systems that make both possible. Also referred to as aeronautical engineering, aerospace engineering deals with designing, building, and testing airborne and space vehicles, from airplanes and helicopters to rockets, missiles, satellites, and spacecraft. This option is part of the mechanical engineering BS degree.

Aerospace Engineering Courses

The aerospace mechanical engineering option begins with a course sequence that starts in the third year of your mechanical engineering program. This ensures that you have developed the foundational mechanical engineering skills needed for specialization in more advanced coursework that focuses on the principles and dynamics of aerospace engineering. Courses in aerospace engineering include an introductory course (Contemporary Issues in Aerospace Engineering) followed by advanced electives in areas such as composites, fatigue, aerodynamics, orbital dynamics, flight dynamics, aerospace structures, propulsion, and vibrations.

Multidisciplinary Senior Design

Multidisciplinary Senior Design is a two-course sequence in your final year of study. It’s a capstone learning experience that integrates engineering theory, principles, and processes within a collaborative team environment. Multidisciplinary student teams follow an engineering design process, which includes assessing customer needs, developing engineering specifications, generating and evaluating concepts, choosing an approach, completing systems and subsystems designs, and implementing the design to the extent feasible, for example, by building and testing a prototype or implementing a chosen set of improvements to a process. You’ll apply the knowledge you have learned in the classroom and from your co-op experiences to this design project. Students in the aerospace engineering option are expected to work on a design project that focuses on solving or advancing an aspect of aerospace engineering.

Careers and Cooperative Education

Cooperative Education

What’s different about an RIT education? It’s the career experience you gain by completing cooperative education and internships with top companies in every single industry. You’ll earn more than a degree. You’ll gain real-world career experience that sets you apart.

Co-ops and internships take your knowledge and turn it into know-how. Your engineering co-ops will provide hands-on experience that enables you to apply your engineering knowledge in professional settings while you make valuable connections between classwork and real-world applications.

All engineering majors are required to complete four blocks (48 weeks) of cooperative education experience. For students in the aerospace engineering option, your co-ops are expected to take place in aerospace companies or in organizations that support the aerospace industry. A sampling of aerospace companies that hire RIT students for co-ops and for full-time employment include Aerospace Corp., BAE Systems, Defense Intelligence Agency, General Dynamics, NASA, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Aircraft, SpaceX, Sikorsky Aircraft, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Navy, to name a few.

Admissions and Financial Aid

This program is STEM designated when studying on campus and full time.

This option is part of the mechanical engineering BS. Please visit the degree program page for admission requirements.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

100% of all incoming first-year and transfer students receive aid.

RIT’s personalized and comprehensive financial aid program includes scholarships, grants, loans, and campus employment programs. When all these are put to work, your actual cost may be much lower than the published estimated cost of attendance.

Program Outline

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