Expert: Paul Soderman - 9/8/2008

Question
I am Phillip, currently a sophomore in high school. I have to compose a report on a field of engineering that I plan to enter, and my choice was Aeronautical engineering. Part of my report asks me to compose an "interview" of sorts. I plan to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for a Master's or Doctorate in Aeronautical Engineering. Please do your best to answer my interview questions. I apologize for the length, but please be as thorough as possible.

Describe some specific duties and responsibilities as an aeronautical engineer in general? Specifically?

What does your typical work day consist of?

How is the quality of the work? Is the pay decent, are job locations nearby, are the hours nice?

Jobs can get boring quickly due to a large workload with nothing particularly new; does your job resemble that or does it not?

How much of your time is spent contacting/working with other engineers in different fields?

What are some projects that you have worked on (that you are allowed to tell me)?

Are there any specific or specialized tools that you need for your job?

Can you explain why you chose aeronautical engineering above anything else?

What courses or other programs can you recommend a high school student like myself should take to prepare for aeronautical engineering?

I noticed you attended Washington University for your degree: what other schools were on your list that you would recommend for this specialty?

Thanks for reading, and thanks for your time. Please reply soon!

Regards,
   Phillip  
   Student of Warren Township High School, Gurnee. Class of 2011.


Answer
Hi Phillip

Generally, aeronautical engineers design and develop aerospace devices such as aircraft, missiles, race cars, jet engines, etc.  I was in research at NASA Ames Research Center where I was responsible for planning and executing wind tunnel studies aimed at improving our understanding of aeronautics and related technologies.  

A normal day involved examination of scientific literature, planning experiments, writing code for data analysis, analyzing experimental results, meeting with my peers, requesting support from management, writing reports, etc.  I traveled 4 to 6 times a year to various laboratories or scientific conferences.

The quality of work was high.  The pay was good, not exceptional, but government employees have good benefits such as excellent vacation time, sick leave and pensions.  Hours were good, we had the option of working 9 nine hour days and getting a three-day weekend every other weekend.  Job locations in aerospace are limited by the few number of organizations in the field, but jobs do exist all over the country.

Research is never boring, not counting the occasional meetings on team morale or time efficiency that we had to attend.

I often worked with engineers with different expertise such as electronics engineers, mechanical designers, software programmers, system control engineers, etc.

The projects I worked on can be found in engineering libraries - search on my name.  One project I was proud of was the investigation of the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica.  I did the aero design the gas sample instrument.  We found was causes the hole, which led to the worldwide banning of fluro-hydrocarbons.

For this job you must be expert in math and physics as well as computer programming, electronics, and so on.

I knew in high school I wanted to be an engineer, either to build bridges or aircraft.  I chose aircraft and am glad.

High school students should take all the math and science they can get, especially physics.

I chose U. of Washington for my aero studies, but also studied at Oregon State U. and Stanford U.  They are all good schools, but there are many across the country.
Paul