Research Area in Aerospace Engineering MS

Graduate School
1

Hello everyone,

I am planning to attend Univ. Washington for my masters in aerospace engineering.

I originally intended to go for the propulsion route but have recently heard a lot of good things about composites material, such as that it will be the future of aerospace. Now I am confused and not sure what I want to study anymore. I understand that composites have become very popular in the recent years, like 787. And I understand it’s not like there won’t be any jobs for propulsion, but if composites is truly the future, I would like to be an expert in this field for the needs in future. I also heard that fighter jets are/will be made out of composites materials in the future. On the other hand, I have been told that gas turbine/gas propulsion (the field that I am interested in) is sort of at its bottleneck in terms of development and research and the remaining research areas are noise reduction and pollution reduction, in which case do not appear so interesting to me.

My goal is to be able to work at companies like Boeing or GE right after I finish my MS and I guess my biggest question is that was any of this information any trustworthy? Also, would it really be better off to go for composites instead of propulsion just because the trend of the industry? I won’t mind studying composites for the next two years but I really would like to find out if this sacrifice is worth my career outlook down the road.

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated! Thanks for helping me out.

2

I’d suggest not going into a field just because you hear it will be big in the future. Go into a field because it interests you.

3

Thanks, boneh3ad. I know I probably should go with my interest, but I hope I can follow the trend of the industry too. I know I still can take a few classes outside of my concentration to explore other areas, I really want to land a job after I graduate in companies like Boeing, I just heard that they’d like to hire more composites people in the future.

I guess I am trying to be all-encompassing in these two fields just to be able to find a job. Am I over thinking on this…?

4

You won’t likely have that much free time to take other classes as a graduate student.

Ultimately Boeing et al. need people in all the different areas of aerospace, not just composites. Remember that what you focus on now is related to what you will be doing for the foreseeable future at work once you graduate. Make sure it’s something you actually enjoy.