Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences
Located in the beautiful city of Boulder, the University of Colorado's Aerospace Engineering Sciences department is home to 37 tenure track, research, and instructional faculty, over 200 graduate students and 400 undergraduates. Our vibrant community of engineers and scientists tackle challenges in aerospace technology and science, focusing on Astrodynamics & Satellite Navigation Systems, Vehicle Systems, Bioastronautics, Structures & Material Systems, and Remote Sensing, Earth & Space Sciences.
CU-Boulder's Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences is nationally known for teaching and research that address both challenges and opportunities facing the aerospace profession. Students work extensively on challenging, hands-on experiments in the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory and design projects alongside expert faculty in the department's world-class research centers. CU aerospace alumni are working at top companies and research labs, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Johnson Space Center, The Boeing Company, and Lockheed Martin.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide quality education, including hands-on learning, and to conduct foremost research in aerospace engineering sciences. We accomplish these goals through fundamental and multidisciplinary research and by preparing aerospace engineering students to meet the needs of our 21st-century society through the conception, design, and application of aerial and spacecraft systems.
Distinguishing Characteristics of our Department
The 2010 National Research Council (NRC) Assessment of PhD programs ranks the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at CU-Boulder among the top four schools in the nation based on quality of program. Our Department is uniquely characterized by a blend of aeronautics, astronautics and science applications. More
In the News
Spring 2012
Two AES Professors Receive 2011-2012 Boulder Faculty Assembly Awards
The Boulder Faculty Assembly announced that Professor Hanspeter Schaub is the recipient of the BFA Excellence in Teaching Award, and Professor Brian Argrow is the recipient of the BFA Excellence in Service Award. Dr. Schaub is the Associate Chair for Graduate Affairs in the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, and Dr. Argrow recently completed a five-year term as Associate Dean for Education in the College of Engineering and Applied Science.
Institute of Navigation Award
The Institute of Navigation has named Professor Penina Axelrad of CCAR as the winner of the Institute of Navigation Burka Award, which is "to recognize the best technical article having appeared in NAVIGATION, The Journal of The Institute of Navigation in the last year volume." Prof Axelrad is being recognized for her paper titled: “Collective Detection and Direct Positioning Using Multiple GNSS Satellites” that appeared in the Winter issue (Volume 58, No. 4).
AMS and Aviation Week
Two different publications feature activities of faculty and students in the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences in their January 2012 issues: The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society displays the RECUV equipment on its cover with an article written by RECUV faculty inside (go here), while Aviation Week's January 23/30 issue, "2012 Aerospace: Intelligence for an Essential Industry", describes Prof. Ryan Starkey's graduate student team that is building a small supersonic UAV named Gojett (click here for article, reproduced under permission from AW&ST ). This UAV is also featured on the CU News site.
CU-Boulder-led team to assess decline of Arctic sea ice in Alaska's Beaufort Sea
A national research team led by the University of Colorado Boulder is embarking on a two-year, multi-pronged effort to better understand the impacts of environmental factors associated with the continuing decline of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. The team will use tools ranging from unmanned aircraft and satellites to ocean buoys in order to understand the characteristics and changes in Arctic sea ice.
Read the full press release in the: CU News