Expert: Paul Soderman - 1/29/2001

Question
Hi, Im a freshmen currently attending Hampton University and I have a few questions to ask you, if you don't mind answering them.

Do you know what the job outlook is for Aeronautical Engineering?

What courses do I need to take in college?

Do you get to use a lot of creativity in aeronautics?

Is the work you do complicated and does it require you to spend a lot of hours working?

What exactly do you do at NASA?  

Answer
Michael - I may have answered this twice, or I may have clicked the wrong button and it went nowhere.  Anyway...

I believe the job outlook in Aero Engineering is good because the country continues to need new aircraft and aero systems for civilian and military applications.  Efficient, quiet, environmentally benign aircraft will always be in demand.  Of course, you will have to go where the jobs are and historically, the aerospace industry has been controlled by a few large companies.  Commercial transports, for example, are only made in Seattle now.  Hoever, there are many smaller companies working in related fields such as fluid mechanics, satelite navigation, etc.

In college you will take the basic engineering courses the first two years - math, physics, strenght of materials, chemistry, thermodynamics, etc.  Later you will take more specialized courses in aerodynamics, flight mechanics, dynamics, gas dynamics, etc.  A good dose of computer skills and writing skills would be very useful.

Aeronautics requires lots of creativity because we are often pushing the envelope and doing things no one has done before.  Of course we rely heavily on the work done by our predecessors, but to extrapolate to a new level requires dedicated, creative work.  

The problems can be complicated in scope, but we break them down into manageable tasks.  For example, at NASA we might study an isolated flap tip to understand the flow physics before we take on the entire wing.  We just finished a study of a landing gear that will later be put on a model wing in the wind tunnel.  We put all the pieces together and try to predict what will happen to a real airplane.  I work a normal 40 hour week except during special tests that might require more time.

I am a Group Leader of a small team of talented young engineers that do research on aircraft noise problems.  We study and find ways to reduce propulsion and airframe noise.  In the process, we have built a phased microphone array antenna that allows us to make color images of the sound radiating from aircraft components.  Then we modify the geometry to see how the sound sources change during wind tunnel tests or other special experiments.  We also use an anechoic chamber for this purpose.  Much computer modeling and coding is required. It is very challenging and rewarding.

Good luck.  I hope this helps.