CNBC<\/a>, defense and aerospace companies have been raising their outlooks of demand for the remainder of 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cThe whole aerospace industry has just been taking off, particularly on the space side,\u201d Hart said. \u201cRecently, there\u2019s been just so much activity, both on the Department of Defense and also the commercial side.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
To accommodate working graduate students, the master\u2019s program can be taken on campus or remotely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Keegan Gagnon, \u201826, plans to start his master\u2019s of aerospace and space systems engineering full-time in spring 2026 but will finish his studies remotely while working for Northrop Grumman, an aerospace company in Maryland.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This semester, Gagnon is taking the course Fundamentals of Aircraft Design, which will go toward his master\u2019s degree.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gagnon said he enjoys designing and engineering aircrafts, and as he continues to pursue his degree, he\u2019s excited to take classes like space propulsion systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of very interesting courses out there,\u201d Gagnon said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to really get involved and learn a lot from all of them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gagnon said he\u2019s impressed with the program\u2019s interdisciplinary approach, which he believes will prepare him to collaborate with other engineers at Northrop Grumman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He also said the interdisciplinary design allows for master\u2019s students to take approved electives in electrical, industrial systems, materials science and electrical engineering.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hart said he believes that in aerospace, even more than in other industries, it\u2019s important to learn as many topics as possible because it\u2019s an interdisciplinary field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole sense of teamwork in aerospace is particularly important in not just designing a vehicle, but operating mission control centers,\u201d he said. \u201c(The control centers are) filled with engineers who know how to work with each other to solve the problems that they\u2019re having.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Students outside of the program are also excited about its potential impact on campus culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hana Hussain, \u201826, the president of LU Aero, a student-run aerospace engineering group, said she appreciates the growth of aerospace at Lehigh and the potential of the master\u2019s program, especially because the university has a solid foundation in the field with expert faculty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe obviously have (Hart) who is an incredible asset and a great person in general to learn so much about aviation from,\u201d Hussain said.<\/p>\n
Nathaniel Dudko, \u201826, originally planned to pursue the master\u2019s program, so he has taken some of the graduate courses required for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He now intends to pursue a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, but he said he\u2019s still enthusiastic about the opportunities the new program offers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was looking at jobs, (they\u2019re) becoming increasingly scarce for undergraduates,\u201d Dudko said. \u201cThere seems to be a greater emphasis on experience, and, so, doing a master\u2019s or (a) four plus one gives you more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A major feature of the program is its use of guest lecturers who teach from their careers in the industry. Hart incorporates his own experience as a NASA astronaut and telecommunications officer into his coursework.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all learn from stories,\u201d Hart said. \u201cI try to bring those stories into the classroom, and it just makes it more interesting to teach and to learn.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said he specifically tries to weave in his experiences with mechanical and electrical engineering, flying and airplanes, spacecraft operations, and business marketing from throughout his career into his teaching.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hart said his advice to students interested in the program would be to follow their passions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur job on the faculty is to enable all to let them pursue their passions, and then by the time they graduate, they should be full-blown engineers with all the skills they need to pursue that passion in their careers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new 30 credit master\u2019s program in Aerospace and Systems Engineering will be offered in spring 2026. Though…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[8919,119,121,120,1198],"class_list":["post-13831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-academics","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-student-and-campus-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}