Aerospace Engineering Sciences

Graduate Degrees in Aerospace Engineering Sciences 

The Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado is one of the top aerospace engineering departments in the nation with annual research expenditures that exceed $20 million. Aerospace engineers work on Earth and in space not only to extend frontiers but also to understand more fully and to preserve our terrestrial environment. Few fields offer more exciting and diverse careers: becoming an astronaut (15 graduates to date have become astronauts), designing the next generation of aircraft and spacecraft, monitoring our global habitat via remote sensing from space, in situ sensing with unmanned vehicles, and helping to develop environmentally clean energy and transportation systems. 

Aerospace graduate students often formulate degree plans on the basis of the student’s interests and needs. Portions of the program are designed to promote the student’s engineering and professional development. Graduate students are admitted into a specific focus area that provides research advising, financial support, and sets specialized admission and program requirements and recommendations for course work within and outside the department. The four focus areas are: 

• Aerospace Engineering Systems
• Astrodynamics and Satellite Navigation Systems 
• Bioastronautics
• Remote Sensing, Earth and Space Science 

Each focus area has defined the required characteristics of its successful graduates at the MS and PhD level, and defined the required and elective courses that support its educational program.

Aerospace-related research centers in the college include the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, the Center for Aerospace Structures, the Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles, and BioServe Space Technologies. Other research centers within the university that are involved in space-related research activities are the Center for the Study of Earth from Space, the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, JILA, and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.

Requirements for Advanced Degrees

Graduate students applying for admission to aerospace engineering sciences are required to submit the results of the analytical, quantitative, and verbal sections of the general examination, Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

The department offers graduate programs leading to the MS and PhD degrees in aerospace engineering sciences. Portions of the program are designed to promote the student’s engineering and professional development.

Courses below the 5000 level in aerospace engineering cannot count toward graduate degree requirements; up to 6 credits of 4000 level relevant courses from approved departments outside aerospace may be accepted for master’s degree credit if they fit with the student’s degree plan. Such courses must have academic content consistent with graduate study in aerospace engineering sciences. 

Advising. Once students have selected a research area for the thesis, academic advising is done by their thesis advisor. 

Master of Science Degree (Plan I/II)

• A total of 30 semester hours (including both course and thesis hours), at least 24 semester hours of which must be completed at the 5000 level or above, and no more than 12 semester hours can be outside of ASEN.
• Two to four required courses (6–12 semester hours) must be taken in the student’s primary focus area and one course (3 semester hours) must be taken in a second focus or thrust area.
• One graduate level math course (3 semester hours) in ASEN, APPM, or MATH. 
• Seminar credits, even those earned in other disciplines, do not count toward the MS degree.
• Students must complete 6 semester hours consisting of either (1) MS thesis (Plan I), (2) approved certificate or program (Plan II), or (3) a two-semester team projects course (Plan II). The Plan I project culminates with an oral presentation and/or written report or oral examination.
• Completion of all degree requirements within four years of the date of commencing course work, normally completed in one to two years.
• Master’s degree residence requirements can be met only by residence on the CU-Boulder campus for two semesters or three summer sessions, or a combination of at least one semester and two summer sessions.
• Pass all courses with a grade of B- or better and a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0.

Doctoral Degree

Course Requirements. A minimum of 36 semester credit hours of courses numbered 5000 or above (at least 18 of these must be in ASEN) with a minimum of 3.250 GPA, and 30 credit hours of thesis credit are required for the degree. A maximum of 18 credit hours may be transferred from another accredited institution and applied toward a PhD degree if approved by the graduate committee of the department and the Graduate School. All courses taken for the master’s degree at the 5000 level or above at the University of Colorado may be applied toward the doctoral degree at the university. The formal course work must include a minimum of 18 hours of courses or their equivalent in aerospace engineering sciences.

Preliminary Examination. Students must pass a preliminary examination by no later than the end of the third semester if the student already has an aerospace master’s degree upon entry to the program, or the fifth semester if the student does not have an aerospace master’s degree. The exam is administered by a committee consisting of three regular or research aerospace faculty members, two of whom must be from the student’s main focus area and the third from a secondary focus or thrust area. The exam will include a written and an oral element, as determined, prepared, and evaluated by the exam committee. 

Comprehensive Examination. By no later than the fifth semester, or seventh semester, students must also pass an oral examination before the student’s doctoral committee of five or more graduate faculty members chosen by the student and approved by the department and the Graduate School. This should be preceded by individual examinations or interviews, either written or oral or both, by every committee member. The oral examination before the committee is based primarily on a written proposal for the thesis research provided by the student to committee members in advance. 

PhD Thesis. Students must write a thesis based on original research conducted under the supervision of a graduate faculty member. The thesis must fulfill all Graduate School requirements. After the thesis is completed, an oral final examination on the thesis and related topics is conducted by the student’s doctoral committee.