With the upcoming arrival of the SpaceX spaceport in Vermilion Parish, UL Lafayette is expanding its space-focused academic programs in aerospace and computing. University President Dr. Ramesh Kolluru says it includes new degree programs starting next fall.
“We are going to be launching, within the Department of Engineering, a mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering concentration within the bachelor’s degree program as well as an aerospace and autonomous systems minor,” Kolluru explained.
Dr. Ahmed Khattab, dean of the UL Lafayette College of Engineering added, “The aerospace and autonomous systems minor and the aerospace engineering concentration are part of our broader efforts to continuously align our engineering education with rapidly evolving technologies and workforce needs.”
The new concentration and minor will focus on computing and cybersecurity for space applications. Dr. Kolluru says while the new programs will be taught by existing faculty for the time being, adding additional faculty is in the long-term plan.
“We certainly need to continue to grow and invest in our faculty; to ensure that they have the resources that they need, to help them create the laboratories and the expertise that we need to bring to the table to train and educate our students,” Kolluru noted.
Dr. Kolluru says these new degree programs will help the school achieve its goal of increasing enrollment to 27,500 by 2035.
“They believe that this would be a great opportunity for us to excite high school students to come to this university, because this university’s prepared to help train them to be ready for SpaceX the day they graduate,” Kolluru said.
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