B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering
The objectives of the Aeronautical Engineering program are that graduates
- will competently apply engineering methods to solve professional problems associated with the design, manufacture, and maintenance of aircraft and related systems and understand the social, ethical, and environmental context of their work;
- will communicate clearly, collaborate competently in teams, and assume leadership roles;
- will have the habit of continuous professional development.
The program outcomes are the generic abilities that graduates will demonstrate that they have acquired. The defining characteristics of professional problems1 and the process used to solve them lead directly to these generic program outcomes.
1 See Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering Department Student Handbook.
- Competence in employing the solution process to solve professional problems.
- Competence in transforming a physical system into a mathematical model, using a combination of scientific knowledge, physical intuition, and mathematical techniques, and in extracting meaning from that model by numeric or analytic solutions, approximation, or estimation to evaluate a proposed solution or make a decision.
- Clear communication in written, oral, and graphical form.
- Competence in collaboration with individuals of differing backgrounds.
- A competent understanding of the interaction of a proposed solution with the social, economic, and natural and man-made environments.
- Instill the habit of continued learning so, as professionals, graduates will prepare themselves to solve new or more difficult problems.
Curriculum Overview: The 120-credit program contains 87 credit hours of required technical courses, 33 credit hours of electives (including two professional electives, one undesignated elective and five Knowledge Area/University Course, KA/UC, electives).
Required Technical Courses: The first two years of the curriculum cover mathematics, physics, chemistry and engineering science courses (including basic principles of statics, dynamics, solid mechanics, electrical circuits, materials and the use of computers).
In the third and fourth years, students take specialized courses on topics such as aerodynamics and flight mechanics. These courses provide knowledge and skills that strongly support the second outcome listed above, which is a key element in aircraft design. The laboratory components of the first-year physics and chemistry courses introduce study of the relationship between theory and reality. This fosters the development of the student’s technical intuition. Aeronautical engineering laboratory courses add to this development.
Training in professional problem-solving begins in the spring of the second year, with the first course in engineering design. The first course to train students formally in the solution process, it lays the foundation for the fourth-year capstone design course. In the capstone course, students work in teams to design an aircraft. Thus, they learn to apply the solution process to a real professional problem. Students may acquire additional professional experience by participating in the Design, Build, and Fly Competition team. Or they may participate in the Formula SAE, Mini-Baja, Clean Snowmobile, or other team competitions, which are open to any student.
Common Curriculum Requirements: Plans of study must include a total of five Knowledge Area (KA) courses. Students will select these so that at least one is a designated University Course, and so that together these five courses cover the six knowledge areas. Communication intensive course requirement will be fulfilled by a combination of courses having one or two communication points each, with a total of six points required for graduation. At least two of these six points will be earned through 300- or 400-level courses required in the major.
Professional and Undesignated Electives: The professional electives must meet criteria in the Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering (MAE) Department Student Handbook1. The undesignated elective may be any college-level course that does not contain a significant amount of material already covered in other courses. It could be chosen to enrich the student’s technical or nontechnical background. Advanced (200-level or above) Aerospace Studies or Military Science courses may be used as undesignated electives.
| Curriculum | ||||||
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| FIRST YEAR (See Common First-Year Curriculum in Engineering) |
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| First Semester | Second Semester | |||||
| Course | Title |
Cr. Hrs. |
Course | Title |
Cr. Hrs. |
|
| MS/AS | Military Science/ | MS/AS | Military Science/ | |||
| Aerospace Studies | Aerospace Studies | |||||
| (if elected) |
1
|
(if elected) |
1
|
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|
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| SOPHOMORE YEAR | ||||||
| First Semester | Second Semester | |||||
| Course | Title |
Cr. Hrs. |
Course | Title |
Cr. Hrs. |
|
| ES220 | Statics |
3
|
ES222 | Strength of Materials |
3
|
|
| ES250 | Electrical Science |
3
|
ES223 | Rigid Body Dynamics |
3
|
|
| ES260 | Materials Science |
3
|
AE/ME212 | Intro to Engineering | ||
| MA232 | Elementary Differential | Design |
3
|
|||
| Equations |
3
|
MA231 | Calculus III |
3
|
||
| AE200 | Aeronautical Engineering | AE201 | Mechanical Engineering | |||
| Seminar |
0
|
Lab I |
1
|
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| KA/UC Elective |
3
|
KA/UC Elective |
3
|
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 |
|
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|
15
|
16
|
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|
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| JUNIOR YEAR | ||||||
| First Semester | Second Semester | |||||
| Course | Title |
Cr. Hrs. |
Course | Title |
Cr. Hrs. |
|
| ES330 | Fluid Mechanics |
3
|
AE/ME425 | Aerodynamics |
3
|
|
| ES340 | Thermodynamics |
3
|
AE429 | Aircraft Performance | ||
| AE/ME350 | Aircraft Structures |
3
|
and Flight Mechanics |
3
|
||
| MA330 | Advanced Engineering | AE458 | Design of Aircraft | |||
| Math** |
3
|
Structures |
3
|
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| AE/ME455 | Mechanical Vibrations | AE401 | Mechanical Engineering | |||
| and Control |
3
|
Lab III |
1
|
|||
| AE301 | Mechanical Engineering | Undesignated Elective |
3
|
|||
| Lab II |
1
|
Business Elective |
3
|
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|
|
|
|||||
|
16
|
16
|
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|
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| SENIOR YEAR | ||||||
| First Semester | Second Semester | |||||
| Course | Title |
Cr. Hrs. |
Course | Title |
Cr. Hrs. |
|
| AE450 | Aircraft Design I |
3
|
AE451 | Aircraft Design II |
3
|
|
| AE430 | Stability Control of | AE427 | Design of Propulsion | |||
| Aerospace Vehicles |
3
|
Systems |
3
|
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| AE/ME431 | Gas Dynamics |
3
|
Professional Elective |
3
|
||
| Professional Elective |
3
|
KA/UC Elective |
3
|
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| Economics Elective |
3
|
|
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|
|
12
|
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|
15
|
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** or MA331 and STAT383
1 Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering Department Student Handbook.
Students in the Class of 2010 and later — see Academic Requirements for details of the Clarkson Common Experience including the First-Year Seminar, the Clarkson Seminar, Knowledge Area (KA) courses, University Courses (UC), and related requirements.
For professional concentrations see Professional Concentrations in Engineering.
