4/2/2013 Written by Susan Mumm
Written by Written by Susan Mumm
The first five students of AE’s new Aerospace Systems Engineering master’s degree program have now graduated and so far, so good. All have firm plans for their next steps, and believe that the new program has helped guide them on their way.
“I would recommend this even if you’re not going for a systems engineering certificate,” said graduate Phil Hornstein. “It’s just knowledge people should have.”
The program, one of the first of its kind offered in U.S. universities, provides students with a foundation in the methods and tools involved in defining and managing complex, multidisciplinary aerospace design projects. AE alumnus Steven J. D’Urso, who has over 30 years’ experience working for St. Louis aerospace industries The Boeing Company and McDonnell Douglas, directs the program. The first Systems Engineering master’s degree earners are Hornstein, Bryan Withrow, Richard Strope, Jonathan Yong and Brendan Lane.
Hornstein, Withrow and Strope have taken jobs with Boeing. Hornstein, who also earned a bachelor’s degree from AE in 2011, will be a propulsion engineer in Everitt, Washington. Withrow has been hired as a systems engineer in Tukwila, Washington. He earned his bachelor’s in aerospace engineering in 2011 from The Ohio State University. Strope worked in the aerospace industry a year after earning his bachelor’s in astrophysics in 2010 from Louisiana State University. “After a year I wanted to be a design engineer,” he said. He has gotten his wish, and will start with Boeing’s Aerospace Exploration Department in Houston.
Yong, who also earned a bachelor’s in 2011 from AE, will work for a U.S. Department of Defense science organization, conducting research into unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corp, Lane had his commission postponed for a year so he could attend grad school. He will now undergo military training in Quantico, Virginia. After serving his country, his will consider getting into engineering education and, possibly, politics.
Through the program, the students produced a set of requirements for a large, complex aerospace system or space exploration system, then wrote systems engineering master plans to carry out the project.
Hornstein, Strope and Viktoria Shikova, an AE graduate student who was not in the systems engineering program, worked on a space-based project for Mars. Withrow, Yong and Lane worked on a global resupply UAV designed for military purposes to move cargo in and out of areas.
Hornstein suggested a larger class would improve the program’s outcome. “It would be more flushed out with a few more people. We had three people per project; I think it would have been better with five to 10.”
The program’s main objective appears to have been accomplished, however.
“What we got out of the program gave us a new mindset,” Lane said. “With the systems engineering way, you step back and look at everything as a whole.”
“I enjoyed the real-life stories and the real-world experiences that aren’t usually taught in the classroom,” Yong said.
“We gained more practical knowledge about how aerospace engineering works, not just equations on a blackboard. The insight we got from Steve will be really helpful,” added Hornstein.
Helping D’Urso with the program was graduate student and teaching assistant Drew Ahern. Said D’Urso: “Given my 30 years in the aircraft business, Drew was instrumental in finding me resources and perspective on the space side. He was a tremendous help in my transition to academia from industry.”