Why Choose Aerospace at Illinois?
A Growing, Top-Rated Program
Both the undergraduate and graduate programs at Illinois rank consistently in the top 10. Sharing that space with other high-ranking peer institutions requires making continual adjustments to enhance and improve everything we do.
Check out the most current statistics and rankings.
It is expected that a top university program would have world-recognized faculty, excellent labs and facilities, but we also work hard to make aerospace at Illinois an more inviting environment for all our current and future community members.
Being a part of the aerospace community comes with networking, academic and professional support, and constant inspiration from your peers. Students, faculty, and alumni work together to challenge one another, and the world. But don’t just take our word for it. Aerospace Illini are proud to tell you just what this department can do.
Steven Macenski, BS '17 - Senior Technical Lead of Open-Source Group at Samsung Research and recipient of the 2022 Aerospace Engineering Outstanding Recent Alumni Award.
“There’s a lot of overlap between systems engineering in aerospace and systems design robotics,” Macenski said. “At the time, I didn’t realize how those techniques would have an impact on my future work, but it’s strange now how many times I go into machine learning libraries and realize this is exactly what Professor Chew taught me in AE 370. I think aerospace is probably the best major to go into if you're interested in robotics because it teaches you so much of the system skill that's missing from the software field.”
Elena Kamis, BS '20 - Associate Systems Engineer at HawkEye 360
Kamis was a student in Professor Ioannis Chasiotis’ class when the pandemic hit.She said she was apprehensive about all of her classes moving online.
“I like to go to class and I liked the interaction with professors and peers,” Kamis said. “I learn better by talking through stuff. I have a lot of questions and I’m not shy about asking." She said both the teaching assistants and Prof. Chasiotis were extremely responsive to her emails. She also appreciated how Chasiotis prepared her for what was to come and how he has followed through. “Professor Chasiotis was concerned for his health and all of our health and his TAs’ health. I respect him for that fact," she said.
Why Aerospace Engineering?
AE faculty, smaller class sizes, active student organizations,
and more make AE at Illinois a place for the next generation
of engineers to learn and grown.
Undergraduate Contacts
Timothy Bretl
Undergraduate Programs
(217) 244-3126
tbretl@illinois.edu
Laura Ann Gerhold
Academic Advisor & Coordinator of Undergraduate Program
(217) 244-8671
gerhold@illinois.edu
Audrey Cochran
Academic Advisor
217-333-4629
hasken2@illinois.edu