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New programs enhance Kettering's focus
Rocketing to the top: Aerospace concentration
By Gary J. Erwin
But at Kettering, the meaning of this phrase is powerful, thanks to a new Mechanical Engineering concentration.
Kettering’s new Aerospace Engineering specialty trains engineers in propulsion and aerodynamics using technological resources and software that are usually unavailable at other institutions for undergraduate students. Some of these tools include the Joint Army NASA Navy Air Force standard methodologies such as: Thermal Equilibrium Program (TEP) for the study of equilibrium combustions of fuels; Solid Performance Program (SPP) for solid rocket motor propulsion, performance and grain design studies; and Liquid Thrust Chamber Performance (LTCP), which is a two-dimensional/ Axisymmetric Navier-Stokes solver for liquid rocket engine performance.
“This Aerospace Engineering concentration is stronger than those at other institutions because we train our students to use the programs and technologies that organizations like NASA, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Inc. and other rocket propulsion communities use today,” Navaz said.
Navaz feels the official designation of the Aerospace Engineering is of particular significance. In the 1980s and 1990s before joining Kettering University, he co-authored many of the current JANNAF standard methodologies and programs used today by NASA, the military and other rocket manufacturers. His expertise and experience, combined with the availability of these technological resources that other ME faculty also use when teaching core courses in this concentration, give students an advantage no other institution can provide.
He also said that the curriculum “aligns very well with this growing area of technology and Kettering is positioned well to offer this concentration, since we have an exceptional cooperative education partnership with more than 600 companies throughout the world. Most importantly, this concentration creates more flexibility in academic programming for students and gives them another choice when pursuing their engineering degrees.”
The institution continues to emphasize a curriculum that is responsive to the economic needs of the region, nation and the world. We put much effort and resources in aligning our academic programs to assure a competitive edge for our students,” Harris said.
For more information, visit the Kettering University Mechanical Engineering website at http://www.kettering.edu/futurestudents/undergraduate/mechanicalengineering.jsp.
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