Aerospace Engineering
Aerospace engineers design, develop, test, and help produce commercial and military aircraft, spacecraft, surface vehicles, missiles, and other related hardware and systems. They also design and develop hydrofoil ships, deep diving vessels for oceanographic research, automobiles and high-speed rail-type machines.
If you decide to study aerospace engineering at WMU, you will have the opportunity to participate in hands-on projects in state-of-the-art laboratories and qualify for our departmental scholarships. WMU’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences also has more than 30 student organizations, including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which creates an aircraft each year for the national AIAA Aircraft Competition, or the Western Aerospace Launch Initiative, which is dedicated to designing and launching small satellites.
For hands-on experience in your major, you can work through the University's cooperative education program with a West Michigan company or apply for summer engineering internships locally or overseas in China, Germany or Korea.
Recent WMU graduates with degrees in aerospace engineering are working as:
- Scientists
- Researchers
- Engineers
Among the companies they work for are major aircraft, spacecraft and automotive manufacturers including:
- Boeing Company
- Cessna Aircraft Company
- Duncan Aviation
- Northrop Grumman Corporation
- Rolls-Royce
- Rockwell Automation
- Williams International
- National Air and Space Administration (NASA)
- Lockheed Martin
- Parker Aerospace
- Kalamazoo