News
Aerospace Engineering Department News
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. More information can be found here.
February 26, 2019
The San Jose City Council presented a commendation to the Technology 
Educational Satellite team about its first launch, the TechEdSat-8. 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. More information about the award can be found here.
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, 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. 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.