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Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
A male and female student work on a drone in a lab. The female is on the left, wearing black pants and a multi-colored top and a headscarf, the male to the right has brown hair and is wearing a gray polo shirt.

Aerospace Engineering Undergraduate Program

Program Overview

The aerospace engineering program at Rutgers provides a broad and multi-disciplinary education in the fundamentals of aircraft and spacecraft design. Rutgers is currently the only public university in New Jersey offering an aerospace engineering degree.

The program offers multiple degree options for students, including: a BS, a BS/BS Five-Year Dual Degree, BS/MS Five-Year Dual Degree and a BS/MBA.

The department also offers an energy systems concentration. Students completing the requirements for this concentration receive a certificate in addition to their aerospace engineering diploma.

The aerospace engineering program highlights include: 

  • Rutgers is one of six FAA-designated test sites for advancing the integration of drones into national airspace.
  • New Emil Buehler Aerospace Lab is a two-story testing space for drones and aerospace projects.
  • Faculty members include aerospace engineering experts. 
White male professer holds a drone and speaks to a white male students who is wearing a VR control headset around his neck. Both have on red shirts.

Coursework

The aerospace degree program includes courses in spacecraft mission design, propulsion, mechanical control systems, system dynamics and controls, orbital mechanics, and power plants, among others. Proactive learning opportunities utilize classroom studying in applications and design, leading to a final aerospace design project in the senior year.

Group of students working on senior design project.

Hands-on Experience

Rutgers' aerospace engineering students utilize proactive learning opportunities and classroom studying in applications and design.

The departments highlights include:

  • Year-long aerospace capstone design experience includes students working in teams to conceptualize, design, and manu­facture aerospace system prototypes.
  • Research and teaching facilities include the state-of-the-art Buehler Supersonic Wind Tunnel and desktop and standalone sub­sonic wind tunnels.
  • Build autonomous and wired controls, robotic systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles
  • Active flight control, computational simu­lations of aerospace structures, propul­sion, computational flow dynamics and visualization, autonomous control, lunar and Martian habitats, flexible robotic mechanisms, aerial micro vehicles, control and flight characteristics of high-speed vehicles, space situation awareness, air and water autonomous vehicles, material systems for aerospace structures, and lightweight multifunctional materials.
Black female engineering student works on a device. She wears a red sweatshirt, has glasses, and braids in a topknot bun.

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