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Aeronautical Engineering

Graduate Certificate

Home » All Programs » Aeronautical Engineering
Gain essential skills to design, analyze, and test aircraft in the aerospace industry—build a strong foundation with this specialized certificate.

» Program Overview

Design the Future of Flight

Modern air travel and space exploration are evolving rapidly, and you have the chance to be part of the innovation shaping the future. With aircraft becoming faster, safer, and more efficient, the demand for skilled aeronautical engineers has never been higher.

LTU offers a Graduate Certificate in Aeronautical Engineering designed for Mechanical Engineering graduates looking to expand their expertise in this dynamic field. This 18-credit program combines rigorous coursework with practical experience, providing the specialized skills needed for aircraft design, analysis, and testing. Through core courses and electives, you’ll delve into fluid dynamics, propulsion, aerodynamics, structural mechanics, control systems, noise and vibration, and engineering materials—all essential to thriving in one of the fastest-growing engineering fields in the United States.

» Why LTU?

  • Build a foundation in aeronautical engineering through both theory and practice.
  • Gain a deeper understanding of engineering concepts with an interdisciplinary curriculum.
  • Participate in SAE Aero Design® competitions and collaborate with peers through the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics student branch.

Learn from expert faculty with industry experience and professional connections.

Program Director

Andrew Gerhart

agerhart@ltu.edu

248.204.2574

» Proud History, Bright Futures

Lawrence Tech’s legacy in aeronautics education and research spans decades:

  • 1930s: LTU students dominated national glider competitions, permanently securing the championship trophy.
  • 1940s: Students designed and built the experimental racing plane, Spirit of Lawrence Tech.
  • World War II: LTU alumni revolutionized cargo aircraft design with the high wing/rear door concept still in use today.

Space Exploration: Graduates played key roles in the Apollo moon missions, rocket development, and the Space Shuttle program.

» Curriculum

Core Courses

Course Name

Course #

Credits

Aeronautical Engineering Fundamentals
This course will give a mechanical engineering major some skill sets for aeronautical engineering. With an 80-90% overlap in engineering topics between an aeronautical engineering program and a mechanical engineering program, the course will use many of the principles of mechanical engineering (fluid mechanics, thermodymanics, controls, deformable solids, and dynamics) applied to aeronautics applications such as aerodynamics, wings stability and control of aircraft, propulsion systems, and flight dynamics. Design principles used for flight applications and the operation environment of aircraft will also be covered.

EME4163

3

Applied Fluid Mechanics
Compressible flow (including shock waves, duct flow with friction and heat transfer); propulsion; turbomachinery; potential flow and aerodynamics; flow measurements

EME4323

3

Advanced Mechanics of Materials
Advanced topics in classical strength of materials and the analysis and design of mechanical components. Theories of failure, elasticity, thick-walled cylinders and rotating disks, plate bending, and thin shells. Lecture 3 hrs.

EME5223

3

Electives (Select Three)

Course Name

Course #

Credits

Finite Element Analysis I
This course provides an understanding of finite elements in elasticity for civil engineering problems with an emphasis in structural engineering. Major topics include the formulation and use of several different types of elements such as truss elements, frame elements, beam elements, shell elements, and plate elements. The course also includes the calculation of different element stiffness matrices and the assembly of the global stiffness matrix. This course also discusses the use of different element types for unique problems and the importance of proper boundary conditions and constraints. Several other topics may include theory of elasticity, shape functions, interpolation methods, constant strain triangles, convergence criteria, virtual work, and energy methods.

EME4243

3

Fasteners and Bolted Joints
Course description not found.

EME5103

3

Advanced Fluid Mechanics
Course description not found.

EME5133

3

Modern Control Systems
Course description not found.

MRE5323

3

Aerospace Systems Engineering
This course introduces aerospace systems engineering from a mechatronic perspective: why and how are space missions developed. Course coverage will follow the principal steps of an aerospace project: conception, development and mission operations. Lessons focus on the systems and subsystems on board a spacecraft, satellite guidance, commercial aerospace, and space tourism.

MRE5143

3

Applied Thermodynamics
The concept of availability, refrigeration cycles, mixtures and psychometrics, combustion and thermochemistry, chemical equilibrium, equations of state and thermodynamics relations.

EME5153

3

Mechatronic Systems I
This course introduces students to the design of mechatronic systems through a combination of lectures and hands-on laboratory experiments. Lecture and laboratory topics include basic electronics, sensors, actuators, and microprocessor implementation. Following the structured laboratories, teams of students will design and build a mechatronic system to complete a designated task within a designated budget.

MRE5183

3

Design of Mechanical Joints
This course complements the course Fastening and Bolting, EME5103, which addresses the threaded fastener joint. The purpose of this course is to highlight in a unified and comprehensive manner, the practical aspects and design methodology applicable to typical joints in industry held in place by rivets, bolts, weld seams or adhesive materials, among others. This course gathers together and coordinates various topics that are typically treated as separate studies in numerous texts and publications. The design and performance of mechanical and structural joints and interfaces will be reviewed and analyzed. This course will emphasize practical results and formulas intended for the preliminary design of joints. Topics include description and analysis of mechanical joints, threaded fastener joints, riveted joints, welded joints and adhesive joints. Also discussed will be flanges and stiffeners; coupling and pin connections; and the design of hub and tubular joints.

EME5203

3

Mechanical Vibrations
Harmonic oscillations of one and two degrees of freedom linear systems. Damped vibration. Concept of vibration isolation. Multi-degrees of freedom systems.

EME5213

3

Modern Control Systems
Course description not found.

EME5323

3

Advanced Dynamics
This course discusses the concepts of kinematics and kinetics of rigid bodies in space, energy and momentum integrals, equations of motion in general rotating coordinate frames, Euler angles, angular momentum, kinetics of rigid bodies and analytical mechanics.

EME5333

3

Transport Phenomena I
Transport Phenomena I focuses on momentum transport. The course will open with an overview of fluid mechanics, a review of Cartesian tensors, followed by lectures on kinematics and conservation laws. The governing equations of fluid mechanics will be developed in detail and then applied to a variety of flows (potential flows, boundary layers, etc.).

EME5353

3

Transport Phenomena II
Transport Phenomena II focuses on energy and mass transport. The course will open with an overview of heat and mass transfer, a review of Cartesian tensors, followed by lectures on conservation laws. The governing equations of heat and mass transfer will be developed in detail and then applied to different flow systems. Shell energy balances and different mass transport mechanisms will be studied in detail.

EME5363

3

Engineering Materials
Course description not found.

EME6103

3

Fatigue Analysis
This course covers the design of mechanical and automotive components against fatigue failure. It covers mechanical properties and behavior of engineering materials subjected to static, dynamic, creep, and fatigue loads under environments and stress states typical of service conditions: biaxial theories of failure; behavior of crack bodies, microstructure-property relationships; design methodologies for homogeneous and composite materials. Major topics include: review elementary stress analysis, complex stress analysis: principle stresses in 3D; Mohr’s circle, elastic deformation; Hook’s Law, mechanism and rhelogical modeling; plastic, creep, and anelastic strain in metals and Polymers, failure theories for ductile and brittle materials, application of failure theories, introduction to LEFM (linear elastic fracture mechanics), fatigue (introduction), fatigue-stress raisers, S-N curve and design, strain based fatigue analysis, application of LEFM to fatigue, fatigue crack growth behavior, failure design using LEFM, creep: introduction, creep: life estimates, stress-strain time relations.

EME6113

3

Viscous Flow
Exact solutions of fluid flow equations, similarity solutions and integral methods, stagnation point flow, jets and wakes, derivation of boundary layer equations, experimental results for laminar boundary layers and stability of laminar boundary layers and transition.

EME6133

3

Incompressible Flow
Course description not found.

EME6153

3

Fundamentals of Acoustics
Wave theory; vibration and waves in strings and rods; reflection, transmission and excitation of plane waves; sound measurement; radiation from vibrating bodies; low-frequency sound transmission; ray acoustics; introduction to noise measurement and control.

EME6213

3

Turbulence
Development of the heat and momentum transfer equations in turbulent flow. The concept of eddy diffusivity. Analysis of heat transfer in turbulent flow using the momentum Transfer Analogy. Phenomenological theories of turbulence. Methods of Prandtl, Von Karmen, Martinelli, Lyon, Deissler; other recent developments in turbulent flow.

EME6253

3

Incompressible Flow I
Perfect flow theory. Conformal mapping, Helmholtz theorems. Linearized potential flow theory, airfoil theory. Introduction to viscous incompressible flow. Stokes and ocean flow.

EME6393

3

Aerodynamics
Course description not found.

EME6563

3

Structural Stability
Analysis of flexible members. Linear and nonlinear buckling of beams, beam columns, frames, arches, plates, and complicated structural systems. Post buckling behavior of steel structures. Energy and numerical methods to solution of buckling problems.

EME6553

3

Computational Fluid Dynamics
Introduction to numerical techniques for the solution of inviscid and viscous compressible and incompressible flow and the use of existing algorithms and commercial software.

EME6543

3

» Admission Requirements

Admission to the program as a graduate student requires the demonstration of high potential for success based on the following:

  1. Submission of the Application for Graduate Admission (www.ltu.edu/apply)
  2. A Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering (or equivalent) from an ABET-accredited (or equivalent) college or university
  3. Official transcripts of all completed college work
  4. Two letters of recommendation, one from a professor in the student’s undergraduate program and/or from a corporate supervisor
» Engineering News
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» Document Viewer

Use Your Cell Phone as a Document Camera in Zoom

  • What you will need to have and do
  • Download the mobile Zoom app (either App Store or Google Play)
  • Have your phone plugged in
  • Set up video stand phone holder

From Computer

Log in and start your Zoom session with participants

From Phone

  • Start the Zoom session on your phone app (suggest setting your phone to “Do not disturb” since your phone screen will be seen in Zoom)
  • Type in the Meeting ID and Join
  • Do not use phone audio option to avoid feedback
  • Select “share content” and “screen” to share your cell phone’s screen in your Zoom session
  • Select “start broadcast” from Zoom app. The home screen of your cell phone is now being shared with your participants.

To use your cell phone as a makeshift document camera

  • Open (swipe to switch apps) and select the camera app on your phone
  • Start in photo mode and aim the camera at whatever materials you would like to share
  • This is where you will have to position what you want to share to get the best view – but you will see ‘how you are doing’ in the main Zoom session.