Graduate Program

Program Description

The Department offers work for students pursuing Degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. We offer work for the following degrees:

Master of Engineering – with creative component
Master of Engineering – course work only option
Master of Science
Doctor of Philosophy

The degrees Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy require an acceptable thesis in addition to coursework. Find out more information about our Doctor of Philosophy program.

For all graduate degrees it is possible to establish a co-major program with anther graduate degree granting department. Within the aerospace program, work is available in the following areas: aerospace systems design, atmospheric and space flight dynamics, computational fluid dynamics, control systems, wind engineering, fluid mechanics, optimization, structural analysis, and non-destructive evaluation.

Program Prerequisites

The normal prerequisite for major graduate work in aerospace engineering or engineering mechanics is the completion of a curriculum substantially equivalent to that required of the corresponding undergraduate studies at Iowa State University. However, because of the diversity of interests within the graduate programs in aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics, it is possible for a student to qualify for graduate study even though their prior undergraduate or graduate education has been in engineering, physics, mathematics, or related fields. In such cases, it may be necessary for a student to take additional work to provide the requisite background.

Program Requirements

Please see our list of Graduate Degree Requirements to view each degree in more detail.

Course Descriptions

Are you interested in a course and want to find out more information about it. All courses and their descriptions are available through the online course catalog.

Graduate Handbook

A very helpful source for current Graduate students is the Graduate Handbook , that is produced by the Department. Many common questions can be answered with this resource.

Graduate Faculty

As mentioned earlier, there are a wide variety of areas of specialization in which you may pursue your degree. We encourage you to talk to faculty members and your fellow graduate students regarding your choice of a major professor and members of your program of study committee.

View the complete list of Graduate Faculty and their research areas.