1. Program Educational Objectives

The program educational objectives have been established in consultation with our constituents: students, faculty, Aerospace Engineering School Advisory Council (AESAC, a body made of external advisors), industries, professional societies (AHS, AIAA), alumni, and co-op employers.

a. Process for the Establishment and Revision of Educational Objectives: The School of Aerospace Engineering educational objectives were established during the 1996-1997 academic year. The objectives are evaluated annually by our faculty with the aid of data collected from our assessment instruments. Minor changes to the program are made to ensure that the objectives are being achieved. A comprehensive review of the objectives is done once every five years. The most recent comprehensive review was completed during the 2001-2002 academic year.

The process begins with a draft statement of objectives prepared by the Aerospace Engineering Academic Council, a body made of discipline chairs and faculty leaders. During this phase, we make extensive use of industry input. Our faculty members were active participants of the Boeing-sponsored Industry-University Round Table discussion on the attributes of a successful engineer, and regularly participate in ASEE sponsored industry panels and discussions on industry needs. We also review the Institute and College of Engineering mission, the School of Aerospace Engineering Mission Statement and the Aerospace Engineering Strategic Plan to ensure our educational objectives are consistent with our mission. The draft statement of objectives is distributed to the aerospace engineering faculty, and are extensively critiqued and revised over numerous e-mail messages.

The draft statement is subsequently presented to the AIAA student branch and to Sigma Gamma Tau, our Student Honor Society. The draft statement is also presented to the Aerospace Engineering School Advisory Council, an advisory body made of industry leaders, faculty members from leading educational institutions, and government labs. We also solicit input from the AIAA and AHS professional societies. This is done by contacting the chairpersons of the education committees. The comments from the constituencies are distributed to the faculty for final revisions. The objectives are finalized at a faculty meeting.

During 1997 and during the comprehensive review in 2001, we sought and received written feedback from the following groups: faculty, AIAA (Student Branch), Sigma Gamma Tau, American Helicopter Society, industry representatives, and AESAC. We also distributed our objectives and received oral/written feedback from the program coordinators of all the schools within the College of Engineering, from the Associate Dean of Engineering (Dr. Jack Lohmann), and the Institute Assessment Office (Dr. Joseph Hoey), to ensure that these objectives are consistent with the mission of the College and the Institute, and that these may be clearly evaluated. Input to the most recent revision of the program objectives during the 2001-02 year may be found online at the Web site <http://www.ae.gatech.edu/~lsankar/ABET2002/Constituents.Input.pdf>.

The objectives are posted on the Aerospace Engineering Web site, and on the school notice boards. The intention is to raise the faculty and student awareness of these objectives, and to receive feedback.

b. Statement of Objectives:

Our three educational objectives are given below. These are aimed at producing, respectively: successful engineers, successful professionals, and successful leaders.

1. Our graduates will have a comprehensive education that includes in-depth instruction in aerodynamics, aircraft and spacecraft structures, flight mechanics, orbital mechanics, flight propulsion, and design of aerospace systems.

2. Our graduates will be prepared for engineering careers in aerospace by an emphasis on analysis and problem solving; exposure to open-ended problems and design issues including manufacturing and operational constraints; and development of teamwork, communications skills and individual professionalism.

3. Our graduates will have adequate independent study and research opportunities that cultivate life-long learning skills and nourish creative talents.

c. Consistency with AE Mission, College of Engineering Mission, and EAC/ABET Criteria: These objectives are consistent with the published AE Mission ,Vision, and Strategic Plans which were established by a very similar process with input from our constituencies. The strategic plan was last updated in 1999.

Our Mission

– Provide capable, motivated, and well-prepared students with an aerospace engineering education of the highest quality that will enable them to reach their maximum potential in a technological world (Objectives 1 and 2).

– Advance knowledge, its applications and integration in aerospace related disciplines (Objective 3).

– Serve the larger community of which we are a part, in general, and the State of Georgia, in particular, where our abilities can be uniquely useful.

Our Vision

– Dedicated to excellence in all we do.

– Achieving preeminence in aerospace engineering education (Objective 1).

– Instilling in our students a sense of responsibility for ethical practice and of concern for the environment (Objectives 2 and 3).

– Leading the wider aerospace community within advances in the sub-disciplines in which we concentrate.

– Adapting to changes in societal needs so that the education we provide and advances in knowledge we achieve are continually relevant and important to our state and country (Objectives 1, 2 and 3).

Our Strategic Plan Goals

Excellence in Education:

– Make our educational program inspirational (Objectives 1-3).

– Nurture creativity (Objective 3).

– Attract the best young people aspiring to be leaders in the aerospace engineering enterprise (Objective 2).

– Achieve excellence in educational technologies.

– Create a learning and working environment that is attractive to students (Objectives 1 and 3).

– Ease the transition to college life for entrants.

– Facilitate life-long learning for professionals (Objective 3).

Excellence in Research:

– Continue to build closer and more active research relationships with aerospace and related industries (Objective 3).

– Maintain a better balance among all the government agencies that remain the primary sources of aerospace research funding.

Quality of Life:

– Create a diversified body of students, staff and faculty, reaching out to qualified individuals from diverse ethnical and cultural backgrounds (Objective 2).

– Improve the “quality of life” for students, staff and faculty.

– Address societal and environmental concerns and issues in education and research. (Objective 2 and 3).

Our educational objectives are also consistent with the College of Engineering Mission found on Appendix II, and with EAC/ABET criteria found at <http://www.abet.org>.

d. Curriculum and Processes in Place to Ensure Achievement of Objectives: The aerospace engineering core curriculum, described detail in Appendix I.1, starts with a solid foundation in mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science, materials engineering, and electrical engineering. These courses are augmented by courses in the individual disciplines: aerodynamics, structures, dynamics and aeroelasticity, propulsion, flight mechanics and control, and design. In each of these areas the student is required to complete at least two courses (for an average of 8.5 to 9 semester hours in each discipline) to ensure breadth and depth. This curriculum is specifically designed to achieve our first objective, the development of successful engineers.

All students are required to take two full semesters of capstone design where a large system is designed in a group environment designed to emulate industry practices. Our capstone design is taught by a faculty member (Professor Michael Jenkins) with forty years of experience in aerospace industry. Our program also provides design opportunities at the freshman (AE 1355), sophomore (AE 2355), junior (AE 3355), and senior (AE 4355) levels. Several faculty members direct this activity in the areas of fixed wing, rotary wing, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and space vehicle design. In many cases, our students compete nationally and have been placed first or second in a number of contests. Students are also required to express themselves orally and in written form in several courses: English 1101, English 1102, LCC 3401, all the aerospace engineering lab courses, the two aerospace engineering capstone design courses, and in a number of other aerospace engineering required and elective courses. These courses and processes are specifically designed for achieving our second objective, the development of successful professionals.

Our curriculum has approximately ten hours of free electives. We encourage our students to use these hours to gain valuable research experience. Our introductory courses (e.g., AE 1350) and seminars are designed to help the students become aware of research opportunities within and outside aerospace engineering. Several courses (AE 190x, 290x, 390x, 490x) allow students to tailor their research experience in a manner compatible with their workload. Our School and Institute also offer several industry and foundation sponsored internships that require and promote scholarly research activities. These efforts are aimed at achieving our third objective, the development of a successful leader with a desire for life-long learning.

e. System of Ongoing Evaluation:

We use the following process for evaluating if the objectives are being achieved, and to improve the effectiveness of the program.

i) A set of outcomes that are consistent with the program objectives has been developed in consultation with our constituents, as discussed in the following section on outcomes. These outcomes are reviewed annually by the faculty, and a comprehensive review is conducted once every five years in consultation with our constituents.

ii) The aerospace engineering faculty members have developed a strategy for achieving each of these outcomes. The strategy includes developing courses that instill desired skills, and offering experiences beyond the coursework such as design competitions, undergraduate research, and industry internships. We also work with other units on campus in developing certificates, dual-degree majors, and minors that allow our students to broaden their education.

iii) For each of the outcomes, a quantitative metric is defined, as discussed in the next section.

iv) A set of assessment instruments is designed and fine-tuned annually, in cooperation with the College of Engineering and the Institute Assessment Office, and in consultation with our faculty.

v) The results from these assessment activities are collected once a year (except for alumni surveys and co-op employer surveys that are done once every three years), and disseminated to the faculty and to the external advisory council (AESAC).

vi) Corrective actions are implemented as soon as practical, to address areas in need of improvement.

vii) The educational objectives themselves are reviewed once every five years in consultation with the constituents.

The next section on program outcomes and assessment gives further details on the process described above.