AE Department News
January 2023
Madison Forseth was selected for the prestigious Brooke Owens Fellowship. Forseth was one of 47 students selected internationally this year and will intern with Ball Aerospace. The Brooke Owens Fellowship is a nationally-acclaimed nonprofit program recognizing exceptional undergraduate women and gender minorities with space and aviation internships, senior mentorship, and a lifelong professional network.
August 2020
San José State University ranks No. 1 in Money’s Most Transformative Colleges list out
of 700 universities in the United States for 2020. Money magazine determines these
rankings based on over 20,000 data points with the following factors: tuition fees,
familiy borrowing, and career earnings. With a previous score of 124, SJSU now has
an astounding overall ranking of 24, along with other incredible data, landing SJSU
the #1 spot in Money magazines ranking list! With the circumstances 2020 has brought
upon the SJSU community, SJSU continues to provide access to quality education to
many students and famillies facing financial burdens. To learn more, visit SJSU ranked #1 "Most Transformative College" in the Nation by Money and also check out other SJSU rankings.
March 2019
During the month of March 2019, a collaboration between DeAnza College Engineering
Club students, San José State University (SJSU) Aerospace Engineering Honor Society
(Sigma Gamma Tau) students, and the non-profit My Mentor Tree carried out an engineering
mentoring program at Monroe Middle School. The college students mentored middle school
students through engineering hands-on activities under the leadership of Manizheh
Zand. The SJSU Aerospace Engineering (AE) department sponsored Kyle Pioroda and Eric
Del Medico to do a Rocket Project, while Engineering Club at De Anza College created
Arduino lessons using Sno-Pixels. Check out our SJSU AE students inspiring future
generations of
rocket scientists!
March 4, 2019
AE alumna Ali Guarneros-Luna featured in 2019 WiSE Conference Highlights. The Women
in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Conference is an annual event hosted by Texas State
University’s College of Science and Engineering that aims to encourage women to pursue
STEM as an exciting and fulfilling educational and career choice. This year’s conference
on March 8 will feature Sarah Evans as the keynote speaker and Ali Guarneros Luna
as the plenary speaker. Find out more information.
February 26, 2019
The San Jose City Council presented a commendation to the Technology Educational Satellite
team about its first launch, the TechEdSat-8 [pdf]. The team consisted of eight members: Ali Guarneros Luna, Elias T. Reyes, Austin
Tanner, Alejandro Salas, Cedric Priscal, Nicolas S. Williams, Reine Dominque Ntone,
Bernardo Soriano-Gama, Khoa Ngo, Jesus Ramiro Rosila Mares, Roberto Rosila, Nanci
Solomon, Robert Bruce, and Zachary M. Huges. Dr. Papadopoulos and Dr. Marcus Mucbach,
along with the Vice President for Organizational Development & Strategic Initatives
Jaye Bailey, oversaw the project.
February 26, 2019
Congratulations to Sarah Ortega, who is selected as an SJSU Student Research Competition finalist with her presentation titled "Exploring a Hybrid Design for a Short to Medium Range Transport Aircraft." She will be representing SJSU at the CSU Student Research Competition held in late April. To learn more, visit the Office of Research's page.
February 23, 2019
Ms. Kayla Parcero, AE senior and Chair of the local AIAA Chapter, receives an Education
Scholarship Award in recognition of outstanding professional activity in engineering
and community service at the 30th Annual Silicon Valley Engineering Council Banquet.
January 31, 2019
SJSU Aerospace Engineering alumni and current Aerospace Engineering students along
side with Dr. Periklis Papadopoulos launched a technology education satellite after
countless days and nights of diligent work. The successful launch from the International
Space Station marked the beginning of a wave of research and information that the
satellite is to provide. More information about the achievement can be found on SJSU Newsroom.
February 06, 2018
Today marked an important milestone in spaceflight: SpaceX successfully launched the
Falcon Heavy rocket, landing two booster rockets safely back on earth and launching
a Tesla Roadster into heliocentric orbit. AE Professor Dr. Periklis Papadopulous
and Graduate Student Justin Ancheta comment on this monumental achievement in this
interview on ABC 7 News.
May 2017
Dr. Mourtos delivered two workshops on critical thinking skills and alternative teaching
methods to faculty at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman. Faculty, department
chairs and associate deans worked together to re-design their courses, ensuring student
development in critical thinking, problem-solving, design, communication, lifelong
learning, teamwork, change management, and self-assessment skills. Sultan Qaboos
University has grown from 500 students in 1986 to more than 7000 in fields including
medicine, engineering, agriculture, education, science, arts, commerce, economics,
law and nursing.
April 28, 2017
SJSU AE Propulsion students visit Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, CA for a first-hand
look at a Pratt & Whitney JT9D-1GT2 turbofan engine, a Westinghouse J46-WE-8 axial
flow jet engine, and a variety of radial piston engines. Special thanks to Professor
Murbach for organizing the event and to Hiller volunteer and retired engine designer
John for the introduction.
April 21-23, 2017
Team Cronus II takes 10th place in the highly competitive international design competition
Design-Build-Fly organized by AIAA.
Congratulations to team members (from left) RC Pilot and SJSU Alum Norio Eda, Professor Gonzalo Mendoza, Andrew Covel, Royd Johansen, Dan Winter, Aaron Ford, Samneet Singh.
Special thanks to superhero Professor Mendoza for making SJSU AE a top contender in DBF for many years and guiding this year's seniors to another successful finish!
April 20, 2017
Graduate student Tara Samuels awarded the Scott T. Axline Memorial Student Award for Excellence in Service at the College of Engineering Awards Banquet. Tara was also recently awarded the Society for Women Engineers Mary G. Ross Scholarship Award, an endowed scholarship in memory of Lockheed's first female engineer.
April 15, 2017
SJSU AE students successfully launched 21(!!) rockets today. Congratulations to Alexander
Baek for his Level 1 High Performance Rocket certifications and to David Chau on his
impressive Level 2 HPR certification. Way to go Spartans!
March 10-12, 2017
Team Hermes represents SJSU at SAE Aero Design West in Fort Worth, TX. The Hermes
Phantom placed 6th out of 70 competitors in Presentation and flew beautifully but
lost points in the Flight category due to a crash.
Congratulations to team members (left to right): Needa Lin, Allen McDivitt, Yibo Challinger, Atharv Datye, Ronald Cheng, Dat Nguyen, Team Advisor Professor Mendoza, and Pang Vang. Look for their aircraft, The Phantom, in Eng 164.
January 9-13, 2017
Graduate students Matt Miller, Brian Graham and Eric Wahl present research papers at the AIAA SciTech Conference in Grapevine, TX. The AIAA SciTech Forum is the single most important event for anyone involved in aerospace research and development.
January 11, 2017
Senior Samneet Singh discusses aerospace engineering with Sophomores at Dav High Schoolin
Ludhiana in Punjab, India, encouraging them to study STEM subjects. Well done Samneet!
January 6, 2017
Senior Atharv Datye teaches kids ages 5-14 about airplanes at Hiller Aviation Museum.
During this winter's aviation camp, kids learned how to fly, perform a pattern and
land a Cessna 172 on flight simulators. Now they know how planes work too. Way to
go, Atharv!
December 2016
Love is in the air. We couldn't be happier for our alumni, Seruvizhi Maharajan (MSAE
2014) and Arvind Srilatha (MSAE 2012), who were married in a gorgerous traditional
Indian ceremony in December 2016.
Seruvizhi and Arvind, we send you both our warmest wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous journey together!
December 16, 2016
NASA Ames Branch Chief, Dr. Cetin Kiris, and Engineering Servers and Services Manager and SJSU AE graduate student, Ted Bohrer,
led SJSU AE students on a tour of the Ames' supercomputing facility.
The group was treated to a presentation of several impressive earth, aircraft, rotorcraft, and parachute CFD simulations, as well as Ames' world-class computing storage facility.
Thank you NASA for your continued support of SJSU AE students!
November 30, 2016
Guest Speaker Dr. Mark Tischler, Senior Scientist at US Army/ NASA Ames, discusses Flight Controls with SJSU AE students.
November 17, 2016
AIAA hosts SpaceX employee information session.
November 16, 2016
Senior Stephanie Hadley interviews former Lockheed Martin Corporate Astronaut Leslie Wickman.
October 15, 2016
Rocket Club members successfully launched 5 rockets today totaling 12,000 vertical
feet. Congratulations to Ronald Cheng, Joseph Rodriguez [R], Peter Wu [L] and Jeff
Zhang on their Level 1 High Performance Rocket certifications and to Atharv Datye
[Center] on his impressive Level 2 HPR certification. Special thanks to Graduate
Student Andrew Torricelli for leading the group!
September 23, 2016
Congratulations to our AE Engineering Scholarship Award Winners!
Brandon Arias - Parisi Family Scholar
Fadi Bakour - Silicon Valley Innovation and Entrepreneurship Scholarship
Stephanie Hadley - National Science Foundation Engineering Leadership Pathway Scholar
Royd Johansen - Lockheed Martin Scholar
Joel Lucatero - Harry Wong Scholar
Jared Sagaga - Silicon Valley Innovation and Entrepreneurship Scholarship
August 10, 2016
Dr. Mourtos delivers workshop on waves (Next Generation Science Standards) for science teachers (STEM Creates video from 2:45-3:55) at New Haven Unified School District. The workshop was part of the California Mathematics
& Science Partnership Program directed by Dr. Virginia Lehmkuhl Dakhwe, Director
of the SJSU Jay Pinson STEM Education Program.
August 2016
Senior Roberto Rosila participates in the 10,000-mile Mongol Rally for charity in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in a 1970 classic Mini Cooper.
June 2016
Aerospace America [pdf], a publication of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics featured
SJSU's Design-Build-Fly team Cronus in their June 2016 edition, distinguishing SJSU
as a "perennial top contender". SJSU has taken first place in the competition multiple
times, against top aerospace engineering schools around the world.
April 2016
Professor Mendoza featured on Wichita Eagle for his role in coaching SJSU's Team Cronus to a first place win in the AIAA 2016 Design-Build-Fly Competition.
April 2016
Professor Murbach (PI) and Dr. Papadopoulos (Co-PI) collaborate on the development of on-demand sample return capability (SPQR) TechEdSat-4 at NASA Ames Research Center.
April 28, 2016
Senior Zaid Karajeh receives the 2016 Donald Beall-Rockwell Award for Engineering
Accomplishment. Congratulations to Zaid!
Zaid is the founder, president, and team lead of Spartan Imagineering. He formed the team to compete in the Disney Imaginations competition [pdf]. His team developed a clean and energy efficient overhead monorail system for the city of Toronto that ran on steam power. Their project made it to the finals of the competition.
April 17, 2016
Aircraft design team Cronus won 1st Place in the highly competitive international
design competition Design-Build-Fly organized by AIAA. This is the second time that SJSU's aircraft design students have
won this competiition. The first time was in 2013, also under the guidance of Prof.
Mendoza.
Congratulations to team members: John Paul de la Cruz, Androw Yany, Tyler Sanders, Chris Dickason, Kevin Surban and Roshan Patel. The AE Juniors who supported them: Michael Gwinner, Landon Murray, Samneet Singh, and Richard Sok. Thank you to Professor Mendoza for his excellent work in AE 171 A&B! More details in this nail-biting competition summary.
March 12, 2016
Graduate student Tara Samuels receives the American Airlines Engineering Scholarship Award. The winner was selected on the basis of academic standing, personal accomplishments, teamwork, leadership skills, community service involvement and future career aspirations. Congrats to Tara!
March 7, 2016
SOAREX #9 launched successfully. Professor Murbach is the PI of the SOAREX Flight Series.
February 19, 2016
Professor Soukeras is elected Chairman of the Board of the Hellenic Aviation Society.
May 2015
Following a successful workshop at the World Engineering Education Forum in Dubai
in December 2014, Dr. Mourtos was invited to deliver a three-day workshop on Engineering Course Design at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. Over 100 engineering faculty and administrators participated in the workshop.
