Stanford University Announces Online MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics

Anything that Moves Research Fuels Creative Teaching

Stanford, CA, August 29, 2005 - Stanford University’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AA) is offering the degree of master of science in aeronautics and astronautics to industry students completely at a distance beginning in autumn 2005. The Stanford Center for Professional Development (SCPD) will deliver courses online worldwide and via television broadcast within the San Francisco Bay Area.

“Rapid changes in the field require life long learning,” explains Brian Cantwell, Edward C. Wells Professor in the School of Engineering and Chair, Aeronautics and Astronautics. “Increasingly industry views a master’s degree as the engineering “professional” degree. By making it possible for working engineers to pursue a graduate degree at a distance part-time, we seek to engage and educate industry’s future leaders.”

Students are required to complete courses in the basic areas of aeronautics and astronautics: fluids, structures, propulsion, guidance and control. They may then choose an area of concentration or broaden their focus through interdisciplinary study. “Our faculty members are interested in any system that moves,” says Cantwell. “Movement is concerned with structure, propulsion, flow and control. The range of research in which the AA faculty engages provides breadth for our students whether their interests are numerical simulation, structural health monitoring, navigational enhancements, or deep space exploration.”

“To maintain competitiveness, a technical professional requires career-long education,” says Andy DiPaolo, Executive Director of SCPD and Senior Associate Dean of the School of Engineering. “Students in industry pursue full-fledged Stanford master’s degrees online through SCPD and are held to the same high academic standards as oncampus students. The convenience of online courses and access to Stanford’s premier faculty is a winning combination.” Deadlines for applications to the AA MS program are October 1 for winter admission, January 1 for spring, April 1 for summer, and July 5 for autumn 2006.

The SCPD online portfolio includes over 450 courses and seminars that may be taken individually or as part of a part-time graduate degree or certificate program. Twenty-three Stanford master of science degree concentrations are available online in: aeronautics and astronautics, biomedical informatics, computer science, computational mathematics and engineering, electrical engineering, management science and engineering, and mechanical engineering.
http://scpd.stanford.edu/content?aa