STEM Spotlight on the Department of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering
What is Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering?
Aerospace and mechanical engineers at USC Viterbi design and build unique, complex mechanical-optical-electronic (mechoptronic) systems, ranging in scale from the International Space Station (102 m) to microscale electric generators and pumping systems (< 10-3 m).
During the last half-century the capabilities of mechoptronic systems have expanded to near-Earth, planetary, and interplanetary space. There has been a parallel inward extension to the ocean depths, far underground, and deep inside the intricacies of human bodies. A broad range of engineering science research is critical to developing novel, complex mechoptronic systems. As a consequence, aerospace and mechanical engineers conduct extensive basic and applied research within and crossing their usual disciplinary boundaries, while also synthesizing research from many other disciplines such as biology and computer science. The STEM Spotlight opens many of those labs to students on October 10 so they can see firsthand what this research looks like and the types of problems it solves for society's benefit. Use the pulldown options (right) to learn more about the types of research conducted at USC Viterbi. Follow links to read more about Prof. Kanso, Prof. Alejandra and Prof. Mitul.
More than 100 students from STEM Academy of Boyle Heights, STEM Academy of Hollywood and Diamond Bar High School visited the USC Viterbi School of Engineering to compete in a “paper airplane” challenge—a contest bridging theoretical math and physics with a physical test: Hopeful teams plotted out their calculations to ask the perennial question of aeronautical engineers everywhere: will it fly?
Spotlight Lab Tours
October, 6th
October, 6th
Published on May 24th, 2017
Last updated on April 6th, 2022