<p>I plan on studying AE, what is studying and work like?</p>
<p>Too awesome. But seriously, I’m going to be a sophomore so I’ve only taken general engineering classes, but they are so far interesting, and like any science-field classes, studying is required to do well, but as long as you spread it out and don’t cram then you’ll do fine. I do, however, have an Aerospace-related internship/job at a wind tunnel and it is very cool. We simulate the effects of wind on buildings in a turbulent tunnel that simulates conditions near Earth to test how new buildings should be constructed. It’s pretty awesome.</p>
<p>Aerospace Engineering is a very broad field, and this is a very broad question. The school workload is legendary, with plenty of long papers to write, challenging math classes to take, and a mixture of hands-on and abstract topics to learn. </p>
<p>The work can vary from being the head-honcho lead engineer for the next high-profile spacecraft project to the low-level design engineer drawing up a CAD model of a seat belt harness for Nissan’s next new car. AE’s can get involved with projects in many different areas within aerospace and even outside of aerospace - the skillset is quite broad and flexible.</p>
<p>Do you have any particular questions with regards to AE?</p>
<p>Take a look at this [url=<a href=“http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/careers/q0065.shtml]webpage[/url”>Aerospaceweb.org | Ask Us - Aerospace Engineering 1]webpage[/url</a>] as well… I found the answers given by the author to be very accurate and relevent.</p>
<p>I hear the AE industry is very cyclical. So what is it now? (Dont mean to high jack this thread) Many private industries are beginning to seriously look at space exploration and asteroid mining, how realistic is it to possible to be a part of this as an Aerospace engineer or Mechanical engineer with AE concentration?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t call it awesome. Maybe totally radical, or gnarly on an above average level.</p>
<p>Awesome enough that I still regret not studying it 30 years ago. But then I’m the guy who loves aviation…</p>
<p>My beef with AE today is that 30-50 years ago we built stuff the hard way that was not very expensive, was totally seat-of-the-pants engineering, lasted decades, and did far more than it was expected to do. Today, everything costs an extra zero or two, there’s too many engineers and computer geeks and what nots involved, and true geniuses like Kelly Johnson or Paul MacCready are far and few. </p>
<p>The best part is that AE’s today have skills that other industries need, mostly structural (vehicles), propulsion (commercial aviation, energy), materials, and the like. When the fellow posters say broad, they mean broad. </p>
<p>I feel bad when I visit another aircraft museum and wonder about how we did this all those years ago and today nothing gets solved unless we pour billions into anything…</p>
<p>I agree with turbo93 about some of the things that bother me about modern aerospace projects. They really seem to put so much money into building things and things seem to work so slowly. Some of my favorite planes were designed decades ago.</p>
<p>To the OP, if you have any questions about how an undergrad aerospace program can be, feel free to message me. I am a senior in AE at UIUC.</p>
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<p>Reminds me of the movie, Pentagon Wars, lol. A must see movie, by the way, for any engineer-to-be.</p>
<p>Studying AE at Cal Tech is superb- JPL is their partner. Best in the world in my opinion. Good websites showing you exactly their areas of research.</p>
<p>Could someone post more about what an AE does? Both in college and out in the workplace.</p>