A Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering (MSAE) requires 46 units of study with an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher. The student must develop a program of studies with the program’s advisor in one of the main areas: aerodynamics, flight dynamics and control, propulsion systems, and structures. Courses taken to satisfy any particular requirement may be used to simultaneously satisfy additional requirements for which they are appropriate.
The MSAE degree must include the following:
- Engineering Core requirement as described in Chapter 4 of the Graduate Bulletin of the School of Engineering (6 units)
- Math requirement (8 units): MECH 200 and 201, or MECH 202 and approved two-course sequence or equivalent four-unit course in the Applied Mathematics Department. Optimization Techniques, Numerical Analysis, Probability, and/or Linear Algebra are recommended.
- Culminating Experience: 4–12 units toward a thesis or project course sequence.
A thesis requires a faculty advisor and must be approved by an additional reader and the department chair. Thesis topics are to be determined by the student and faculty advisor. The additional reader need not be a Mechanical Engineering faculty member but must be a full-time faculty member in the School of Engineering.
The student may take any additional graduate courses offered by the School of Engineering to meet the 46-unit requirement but no more than 6 units of Engineering Management courses may be taken.
Click here to see the tentative schedule for the AE required courses.
Required Core Courses (minimum 8 units)
- MECH 214 Advanced Dynamics (4 units)
- MECH 251 Finite Element Methods I (4 units)
- MECH 281 Elasticity, Fracture, and Fatigue (4 units)
- MECH 305 Advanced Vibrations (4 units)
- MECH 323/324 Modern Control Systems I, II (2 units each)
- MECH 377 Continuum Mechanics (4 units)
Required AE Courses (minimum 12 units)
- MECH 205/206 Aircraft Flight Dynamics and Control I, II (2 units each)
- MECH 220 Advanced AstrodynamicsOrbital Mechanics (4 units)
- MECH 235 Aeroelasticity (2 units)
- MECH 313 Advanced Aerospace Structures (4 units)
- MECH 371 Space Systems Design and Engineering I (4 units) or
- MECH 372 Space Systems Design and Engineering II (4 units)
- MECH 431 Spacecraft Dynamics and Control (4 units)
Technical Electives
- MECH 222 System Identification (2 units)
- MECH 232 Multibody Dynamics (4 units)
- MECH 290 Graduate Research/Project (1–6 units)
- MECH 291 Special Topics in Aerospace Engineering
- MECH 299 Master’s Thesis (3–12 units)
- MECH 335/336 Optimal State Estimation I, II
- MECH 340/ECEN 333 Digital Control (2 units)
- MECH 372 Space Systems Design and Engineering II (4 units)
- MECH 420/ECEN 238 Model Predictive Control (2 units)
- MECH 423/424 Nonlinear Systems and Controls I, II (2 units each)
- MECH 429/430 Optimal Control I and II (2 units each)