Aerospace Engineering Minor

The Department of Mechanical Engineering offers a minor to Fresno State students who are interested in aerospace applications of engineering theory related to subsonic and supersonic aerodynamics, flight vehicle stability and control, satellite dynamics, aerospace propulsion, and aerospace structure and materials.

The minor requires 12 upper-division distinct units in residence in total. Distinct units cannot be double counted for any major.

Requirements

Select 12 units from the following listed courses:

ME 144 - Advanced Mechanics of Materials: Advanced topics in mechanics of materials. Statistical considerations in design, stress and strain theories; contact stresses, strain energy, Castigilano’s theorem; failures resulting from static and dynamic loading; static and fatigue theories of failure; stress concentrations. Units: 3. Prerequisite: CE 121, ME 125, MATH 81 

ME 170 - Aerodynamics Units - Fundamental principles and applications of aerodynamics over airfoils, finite wings, and airplane configurations in the subsonic flow regimes. (Formerly ME 191T) Units: 3. Prerequisite: ME 116 and ME 136 

ME 171 - Orbital Mechanics: The course covers physics of orbiting satellites: Kepler’s and Newton’s laws, conservation laws, conic sections; coordinate systems and transformations, including time; applications; Kepler’s equation and two-body propagation; orbital maneuvering; and attitude dynamics. (Formerly ME 191T) Units: 3. 

ME 172 - Aerospace Propulsion: This course explores aerospace propulsive devices as intricate systems, analyzing their functional requirements, engineering and environmental limitations, and design constraints. It covers both air-breathing and rocket engines, providing a foundation for integrating propulsive systems into vehicle designs. Mission analysis, performance fundamentals, and practical design examples are presented. Units: 3. Prerequisite: ME 116 and ME 136 

ME 173 - Flight Control Systems: This course deals with the fundamental principles of flight control systems. The course aims at developing the basic physical understanding of the forces and moments generated on the aircraft and at the various control surfaces, developing nonlinear dynamical models based on these physical considerations, linearizing these models and designing linear flight control laws for the linearized model. Time permitting, gain scheduling and piecewise-affine controllers will also be discussed. Units: 3. Prerequisite: ME 112 

Advising Notes

• All course prerequisites are enforced.
• All courses counting toward the minor must be taken on a letter-grade basis and must be completed with a grade of C or higher.
• The Aerospace Engineering Minor must be completed with a minimum GPA of 2.50.
• Students are advised to seek their advisor’s input upon course selections.

Contact

Dr. Deify Law
Department Chair, Mechanical Engineering 
dlaw@csufresno.edu
(559) 278-2375