Mission, Vision and Goals

Mission

The Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics serves the citizens of the country as a whole and citizens of Alabama who desire to pursue:

• an undergraduate engineering degree with a specialization in aerospace engineering or
• graduate engineering degrees with a specialization in either aerospace engineering (M.S.) or engineering science and mechanics (M.S. and Ph.D.).

Given the importance of the aerospace activities in Alabama, the AEM Department has the following mission:

• provide high-quality undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education that supports the aerospace industry;
• attract and retain high-quality students;
• conduct high-quality research on critical problems in the aerospace industry that will advance the body of scientific knowledge and support the department's education programs;
• serve individual practicing engineers and computer scientists, industry, government, educational entities, and technical societies through professional expertise, active involvement, and availability of facilities.
   

Vision

Our vision is:
The University of Alabama will be nationally recognized for its outstanding programs in aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics. The faculty will be renowned for excellence in teaching and with their students will make significant contributions to the state of knowledge in important technology fields. The instructional and research facilities will be outstanding by any reasonable measure. Industry and government entities will be interested in teaming with faculty on collaborative projects and will actively recruit our graduates. Potential students will be aware of our reputation and will rate our program among the best choices of places to study aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics.

Goals

Our ultimate goals are to:

• provide a nurturing educational environment for students of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics to pursue either professional practice or advanced education;
• prepare our graduates to assume leadership roles in their respective fields;
• provide a research environment that allows our faculty and students to significantly advance the state of knowledge in areas important to the practice of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics.