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Students leading the way
Broncos reach new heights in NASA Student Launch competition
With a historic first in May 2025, Western Michigan University’s American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Pegasus advanced rocketry club competed in NASA’s Student Launch in Huntsville, Alabama.
“A lot of rookie teams don’t even make it to launch day in their first year,” says Tyler Clendenning, an aerospace engineering student. “There have been a lot of things we’ve overcome during the process, but I’m really proud of how far we came.”
The NASA Student Launch tasks students with designing, building and flying a high-powered amateur rocket and scientific payload. This year’s competition took inspiration from NASA’s Artemis mission, which aims to send American astronauts back to the moon and pave the way for travel to Mars.
Alumni support plays a crucial role in the growth and development of WMU and its students.
Student experiences like the AIAA Pegasus team participating in the NASA student launch
competition are made possible in part by contributions from individuals and companies.
Building Building connections and continuous learning
Margean Gladysz began her engineering career women made up just 2% of the engineering workforce. Her broad experience led to a long career spanning diverse industries, but she attributes her undergraduate engineering education at WMU as the foundation for her success.
STEM careers are foundational to our economy. They usually offer higher starting salaries plus opportunities to be creative and collaborative—acknowledged strengths of most women. Many women have entrepreneurial success thanks to their STEM training. I find these to be very exciting possibilities.
