University of Arizona

Aerospace engineers advance space exploration and improve aircraft design. Aerospace and defense is one of the strongest industrial sectors in the United States; Arizona is a significant player, and the University of Arizona is a major pipeline for aerospace engineers. Students in the Aerospace Engineering Bachelor of Science program learn to design and maintain spacecraft, commercial aircraft, fighter jets, missiles, rockets and satellites. They graduate with working knowledge of aerodynamics, control system design, gas dynamics, solid and fluid mechanics, and thermodynamics. Undergraduates complete industry-sponsored capstone projects, some of which become commercial products. They also have opportunities to test materials in the university's array of wind tunnels ?the newest of which shoots air at Mach 4 and Mach 5 to study the effects of flight at hypersonic speeds.