Georgia Institute of Technology
Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
Overview
The Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering encompasses a wide variety of disciplines related to flight. Founded in 1930, the School has been at the forefront of this rapidly changing field. The School's graduate program consistently ranks among the very top in the country. The student body includes almost 200 students from all over the world. Of these about half are in the Ph.D. program, the remaining are currently pursuing the M.S. degree. The faculty enjoys significant visibility and are dedicated to educating future outstanding graduates as well as carrying out leading edge research in a wide variety of areas. Total research expenditure in FY 1998 have exceeded seven million dollars.
The Community
Atlanta is an integral and exciting aspect of the Georgia Tech educational experience. The state's capital and home of more than 3 million residents, Atlanta is the Southeast's most vibrant, progressive and dynamic city. Business opportunities abound as more than 730 of the Fortune 1,000 companies have a presence in Atlanta, including Lockheed Martin, and the national headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company, CNN, Delta Airlines, Holiday Inn, Home Depot and UPS. Home to 37 other institutions of higher learning, the Atlanta area has much to offer to students. From its mild climate ensuring year-round outdoor activities, to hundreds of restaurants, dance clubs, sports clubs, and cultural activities to the numerous professional sports teams, Atlanta students have many opportunities for leisure activities. Nearby lakes, mountains, and beaches offer water sports, camping, hiking and rock climbing.
Programs of Study and Degree Requirements
The Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering offers Masters and Doctoral degrees. Graduate students generally specialize in one or two of the following research areas: Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Aeroelasticity and Structural Dynamics, Flight Mechanics and Controls, Propulsion and Combustion, Structural Mechanics and Material Behavior, and Systems Design and Optimization.
The School offers Masters degrees with and without thesis. Without thesis the student is required to complete 33 semester hours, including up to three hours of research. For the Masters program with research thesis, the number of required coursework hours is reduced to 24. A GPA of 2.7 is required for graduation. Up to 6 appropriate semester credit hours that have not been used for an undergraduate degree may be transfered from an accredited College or University in North America.
The Doctoral degree requires 75 hours of course work and the completion of a research thesis that contributes new and significant advances to the knowledge base in the wider field of aerospace engineering. The student must pass a comprehensive qualifying examination before being admitted to Ph.D. candidature, present a thesis proposal and successfully defend his/her thesis. A GPA of 3.25 is required for graduation. Up to 30 appropriate semester credit hours that have not been used for an undergraduate degree may be transfered from any accredited College or University.
Facilities and Resources
The Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering has a wide variety of state of the art facilities and equipment, which are constantly in the process of being updated. Major facilities in the School include the flight dynamics laboratory, the composites laboratory, the chemical propulsion and combustion laboratory, the solid propellant combustion laboratory the aerospace systems design laboratory, the rotor static thrust facility, the low turbulence and John Harper 7 by 9 ft wind tunnels, and the aeroacoustics laboratory. Many of these facilities are equipped with state of the art laser diagnostics and computerized data acquisition systems.
A variety of mainframe computers, minicomputers, workstations and microcomputers, some parallelized, are available. All computers are highly networked with each other and with the internet. The facilities of the computer-aided design laboratory and the symbolic computation laboratory of the Colleg e of Engineering may also be used by the students of the School. In addition, several research projects are conducted on off-campus supercomputers using nationwide networks.
Research is also supported by an excellent library, which is also a federal repository. The library provides a wide variety of services to faculty and staff.
Expenses and Aid
Tuition and fees for the academic year are $ 5,223 per academic quarter for non-residents of Georgia or $ 2,776 per academic quarter for residents. Part time students are charged prorated amounts. The rates for tuition and fees are subject to change at the end of any quarter.
Financial assistance for highly qualified applicants is available through research or teaching assistantships, and fellowships. Financial awards are based on academic qualifications and potential for research productivity. Stipends currently range from $13,500 to $ 21,500 per year plus all tuition and fees. International students are required to provide certified documentation of their ability to support themselves, but are eligible to compete for assistantships.
How to Apply
Applications are evaluated based on the student's background, grade point average, GRE scores, letters of references and academic as well as research experience. Students from non-English speaking countries must score at least 550 on the TOEFL test.
Outstanding students with Bachelors degrees in non-aerospace engineering disciplines or in the sciences are invited to apply for admission. However, such students may need to register for non-credit prerequisite courses, which could extend their program of study.
Who to Contact
Dr. J.I. Jagoda
Associate Chair for Research and Graduate Studies
School of Aerospace Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332-0150
Tel: (800) 738-3359
E-mail: jeff.jagoda@aerospace.gatech.edu
The Faculty and Major Research Interests
The research program at Georgia Tech enjoys a world wide reputation and ranks amongst the top five aerospace programs in the country. Research is performed in the areas of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Aeroelasticity and Structural Dynamics, Flight Mechanics and Controls, Propulsion and Combustion, Structural Mechanics and Material Behavior, and Aerospace Systems Design and Optimization. The School currently also houses two multimillion dollar centers, the Center of Excellence in Rotorcraft Technology and the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative on Intelligent Gas Turbine Engines. The research is sponsored by a number of federal agencies including the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and the Federal Aviation Administration as well as by numerous industries.
The School's strong research program enables students to use state-of-the-art research facilities and ensures that courses are taught by faculty engaged in cutting edge research.
David S. Lewis, Jr. Chair
Ben T. Zinn, Regents' Professor; Ph.D., Princeton, 1965. Combustion instability, combustion control, propulsion, pulse combustion.
Regents' Professors:
N.L. Sankar, Ph.D., Georgia Tech, 1977. Computational fluid dynamics, helicopter aerodynamics.
Regents' Professors Emeriti:
Robin B. Gray, Ph.D., Princeton, 1957. Aerodynamics.
Edward W. Price, B.A. (math), B.A. (physics), UCLA, 1948. Propulsion, combustion.
Professors:
Krishan K. Ahuja, Ph.D., Syracuse, 1976. Aeroacoustics, fluid mechanics. (Joint appointment with the Georgia Tech Research Institute).
E.A. Armanios, Ph.D., Georgia Tech, 1985. Composite and structures, fracture mechanics, design.
Olivier Bauchau, Ph.D., MIT, 1981. Structural dynamics, multi-body dynamics, experimental dynamics.
Anthony J. Calise, Ph.D., Pennsylvania, 1968. Flight mechanics and controls.
James I. Craig, Ph.D., Stanford, 1968. Structural mechanics, experimental mechanics, design.
Wassim M. Haddad, Ph.D., Florida Tech, 1987. Stochastic modeling, robust multivariable control, structural dynamic control.
S.V. Hanagud, Ph.D., 1963. Structural mechanics and materials, flexible body control, nonlinear dynamics.
D.H. Hodges, Ph.D., 1973. Nonlinear structural mechanics, computational mechanics and dynamics, rotorcraft dynamics and aeroelasticity.
J.I. Jagoda, Associate Director for Research and Graduate Studies; Ph.D., Imperial College (London), 1976. Experimental combustion, optical diagnostics, chemical propulsion systems.
M.P. Kamat, Ph.D., Georgia Tech, 1972. Nonlinear structural analysis and optimization, computational methods.
George A. Kardomateas, Ph.D., MIT, 1985. Mechanics of materials and structures, composite structures, fracture mechanics.
N.M. Komerath, Ph.D., Georgia Tech, 1982. Experimental fluid mechanics, aerodynamics.
Robert G. Loewy, Chair; Ph.D., Pennsylvania, 1962. Helicopter structure dynamics, aeroelasticity, composite structures for aircraft and spacecraft, unsteady aerodynamics.
David J. McGill, Ph.D., Kansas, 1960. Dynamics. (Joint appointment with the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering).
Suresh Menon, Ph.D., Maryland, 1984. Combustion/propulsion, computational fluid dynamics, turbulence and turbulent mixing.
J.V.R. Prasad, Ph.D., Georgia Tech, 1985. Applied mechanics, flight mechanics and controls.
Daniel P. Schrage, D.Sc., Washington (St. Louis), 1978. Rotorcraft and aircraft design, aeroelasticity, flight mechanics and controls, concurrent engineering.
Ramesh R. Talreja, Ph.D., Denmark Technical, 1974. Composite materials and structures.
Professors Emeriti:
Robert L. Carlson, Ph.D., Ohio State, 1962. Structural mechanics, fatigue in structures.
Donnell W. Dutton, M.S., Georgia Tech, 1940; PE. Systems engineering design, stress analysis, aerodynamic vehicle structures.
Wilfred F. Horton, B.Sc., University College (England), 1940. Structures, design.
James E. Hubbart, M.S., Case Tech, 1950. Fluid mechanics, boundary layer control and propulsion.
Howard M. McMahon, Ph.D., Caltech, 1958. Fluid mechanics, turbulent boundary layers, helicopters, V/STOL aerodynamics.
G. Alvin Pierce, Ph.D., Ohio State, 1966. Aeroelasticity, unsteady aerodynamics.
James C. Wu, Ph.D., Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1957. Unsteady aerodynamics, viscous flow, computational aerodynamics, turbulence.
Associate Professors:
Stanley C. Bailey, Ph.D., Stanford, 1967. Structural mechanics, solar energy.
Oliver McGee, Ph.D., Arizona, 1988. Composite structures, structural dynamics, turbomachinery.
C.V. Smith, Sc.D., MIT, 1962. Structural mechanics, dynamics.
P.K. Yeung, Ph.D., Cornell, 1989. Turbulence and turbulent mixing, computational fluid dynamics.
Assistant Professors:
Dimitiri N. Mavris, Ph.D., Georgia Tech, 1988. Aircraft and rotorcraft design, air breathing propulsions system design, aerodynamics.
John Olds, Ph.D., North Carolina State, 1993. Multidisciplinary design optimization, orbital mechanics, space launch vehicle design.
Amy R. Pritchett, Sc.D., MIT, 1997. Flight simulation, avionics and cockpit design.
Stephen Ruffin, Ph.D., Stanford, 1993. Computational fluid dynamics, high-speed propulsion, hypersonics and nonequilibrium flows, aerodynamics.
Jerry M. Seitzman, Ph.D., Stanford, 1991. Experimental combustion, propulsion, laser diagnostics.
Marylin Smith, Ph.D., Georgia Tech, 1994. Computational aeroelasticity, computational fluid mechanics, aeroacoustics.
Lecturer:
Michael W.M. Jenkins, C.Eng., Gloucester College (England), 1958. Aerospace vehicle design, stability/control and handling qualities, flight and tunnel testing, advanced concepts.
Adjunct Professors:
David A. Peters, Ph.D., Stanford, 1974. Aeroelasticity, vibrations and helicopter dynamics.
Brian L. Stevens, Ph.D., Manchester (England), 1966. Controls, nonlinear simulations.