The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s new aerospace engineering major was cleared for takeoff after the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved the new College of Engineering offering on Feb. 5.
Mechanical Engineering Chair Darryl Thelen said the department expects to admit around 100 students for the upcoming fall semester, with enrollment projected to increase to around 150 to 200 students each year.
“The program expands opportunities for students to pursue careers in aviation, space and advanced aerospace technologies while strengthening Wisconsin’s role in the future of flight and exploration,” Thelen told The Daily Cardinal in a statement.
Thelen said as interest and career opportunities in the aerospace engineering field grew, so did student interest in a specialized aerospace engineering degree. He said the lack of a “dedicated” major providing the rigor students and employers look for pushed the creation of the new major.
“Momentum to create a standalone Aerospace Engineering degree gained traction two years ago,” Thelen said. “Since then, it has been an all-hands effort to design the curriculum, equip laboratories, launch faculty hiring and secure approval.”
Thelen specifically pointed to the rapid increase in career opportunities in the space sector. He said the aerospace engineering major will also prepare students for “careers designing and analyzing aircraft, spacecraft, propulsion systems and advanced aerospace technologies.”
In the absence of a dedicated aerospace major, Thelen said UW-Madison students interested in pursuing aerospace engineering added the aerospace engineering option to their major, which would provide experience in applying their education to structural analysis, materials science, advanced dynamics and vibrations in related courses.
Professor and Associate Chair of Engineering Mechanics Riccardo Bonazza played a key role in leading the aerospace engineering option in the Engineering Mechanics program and shaping the aerospace curriculum of today. He taught and created courses focused on aerodynamics, like a lab that allowed students to conduct experiments and analyze data with an on-campus wind tunnel.
“The aerodynamics lab is very popular with the students, who say they really value the hands-on experiences they get through working with the wind tunnel,” Bonazza said in a 2021 interview with the UW-Madison College of Engineering.
UW-Madison joins a long list of institutions including MIT, the University of Michigan, Purdue and the California Institute of Technology that already have aerospace engineering majors in place.
This will be Wisconsin’s first ABET-accredited undergraduate aerospace engineering degree. ABET is an accreditation organization that ranks quality assurance for programs in STEM areas.
More information about the major, including enrollment details and course offering, is expected to be available in June.
