The purpose of the Technical Elective courses is to allow the student to select advanced courses in one or more areas that are of special interest. Each student must take at least ten hours of Technical Electives of which a minimum of three hours must be Aerospace Engineering courses. The satisfaction of this requirement can be accomplished by several methods as listed below.
Approved Technical Electives lists courses that have been reviewed by the Aerospace Faculty and are approved for use as Technical Electives. A maximum of three hours of AE 592 can be used as a technical elective. The student is responsible for either verifying all prerequisites are satisfied or obtaining the permission of the instructor. The student should be aware that not all the courses listed are available each semester. For detailed descriptions of the Aerospace Engineering courses see the Department’s Graduate Handbook. For other courses see the Graduate Catalog.
Students in the University of Kansas School of Engineering cannot select elective courses to form a formal minor. The Department recognizes, however, that some students would like to focus their technical electives on one aspect of aerospace engineering. To help students select their technical electives, the department has compiled a lists of appropriate courses that would form focus areas. Recommended Focus Area Courses contains recommended courses for focus area in Aerodynamics, Propulsion, Structures, Flight Dynamics and Control, Vehicle Design, Astronautics, and Manufacturing. It is also possible for a student, working with their adviser, to create other focus areas.
If a student wants to take a course not listed in Approved Technical Electives, the student needs the approval of his/her adviser and must document this by filing a Course Substitution Petition with the Department secretary, signed by his/her adviser. This form will be filed in the student’s academic folder.
A student enrolled in one of the ROTC programs can receive five hours of Technical Electives if the ROTC program is completed. If the student does not complete the ROTC program, no Technical Elective credits are awarded. Flight training courses (AE 241 & AE 441) and and AE 592 may not be used for Technical Electives by students claiming academic credit for ROTC.
