Aerospace Research Graduate Certificate

Enhance Your Degree with Focus

Learn to develop high performance and ultra-efficient aircraft, including drones and UAVs and to improve aerospace technology by reducing emissions, noise and vibration.

Duke MEMS’s globally recognized faculty are experts in structures and dynamics, aerodynamics, acoustics, and mathematical and computational methods.

The graduate certificate customizes and focuses your Duke experience — without adding to your course count.

jet engine turbine interior view

Hands-on and In-Depth

  • Receive advanced training in high-impact courses aligned with faculty research
  • Experience compelling aerospace seminars given by industry experts
  • Create a research presentation
  • Receive a transcript designation you can share with potential employers or doctoral programs
Jing Li

I chose Duke because its aeroelasticity faculty are some of the most renowned in this field in the world.

Jing Li Senior Aeromechanics Engineer

Expert Faculty

Duke’s aerospace engineering faculty includes members of the National Academy of Engineering and many AIAA and ASME fellows—as well as recipients of the highest awards for research excellence in aerospace engineering.

Wilkins Aquino Profile Photo
Wilkins Aquino Profile Photo

Wilkins Aquino

Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Donald B. Bliss Profile Photo
Donald B. Bliss Profile Photo

Donald B. Bliss

Associate Professor of the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

John Everett Dolbow Profile Photo
John Everett Dolbow Profile Photo

John Everett Dolbow

Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Earl H. Dowell Profile Photo
Earl H. Dowell Profile Photo

Earl H. Dowell

William Holland Hall Distinguished Professor

Henri P. Gavin Profile Photo
Henri P. Gavin Profile Photo

Henri P. Gavin

W.H. Gardner Jr. Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor in the Department of CEE

Kenneth C. Hall Profile Photo
Kenneth C. Hall Profile Photo

Kenneth C. Hall

Julian Francis Abele Distinguished Professor

Laurens E. Howle Profile Photo
Laurens E. Howle Profile Photo

Laurens E. Howle

Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and Material Science

Josiah D. Knight Profile Photo
Josiah D. Knight Profile Photo

Josiah D. Knight

Associate Professor of the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Brian Mann Profile Photo
Brian Mann Profile Photo

Brian Mann

Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Jeffrey P. Thomas Profile Photo
Jeffrey P. Thomas Profile Photo

Jeffrey P. Thomas

Assistant Research Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Thomas P. Witelski Profile Photo
Thomas P. Witelski Profile Photo

Thomas P. Witelski

Professor in the Department of Mathematics

Lawrence N. Virgin Profile Photo
Lawrence N. Virgin Profile Photo

Lawrence N. Virgin

Director of Graduate Studies, Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of MEMS

Specialized Research Facilities

Aerospace Testing, Robotics, Fabrication & More

  • Subsonic wind tunnel
  • Computational facilities
  • 3D prototyping in polymers metals and composites
  • Professional and student machine shops
Students, professor look at a computer screen connected to an experimental wind tunnel

Requirements

  • Four technical courses
  • Four aerospace seminars
  • Aerospace research presentation
  • Core Courses

    • ME 544 Advanced Mechanical Vibrations (Fall)
    • ME 524/CE 530 Introduction to Finite Element Methods (Spring)

    Additional Courses

    • ME 527 Buckling of Engineering Structures (Every other Spring)
    • CEE 541 Structural Dynamics (Occasionally)
    • ME 541 Intermediate Dynamics (Fall)
    • ME 742 Nonlinear Mechanical Vibrations (Spring)
    • CEE 629 System Identification (Every other Spring, even years)
  • Core Courses

    • ME 571 Aerodynamics (Fall)
    • ME 572 Engineering Acoustics (Spring)

    Additional Courses

    • ME 555 Spacecraft Flight Dynamics
    • ME 555 Advanced Acoustics
    • ME 672 Unsteady Aerodynamics (Fall)
    • ME 671 Advanced Aerodynamics
    • ME 775 Aeroelasticity (Spring)
    • MATH 551 Applied Partial Differential Equations & Complex Variables (Fall)
    • MATH 577 Mathematical Modeling (Spring)
    • ME 639 Computational Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer
    • ME 524/CE 530 Finite Element Method (Fall)
    • MATH 561 Numerical Linear Algebra, Optimization & Monte Carlo Simulation (Fall)
    • COMPSCI 520 Numerical Analysis (Spring)
    • MATH 563 Applied Computational Analysis (Spring)
    • The certificate is only available to graduate students in Duke’s Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
    • Students must declare enrollment in this certificate program within their first semester
    • Participants must select a focus area, either Structures & Dynamics or Aerodynamics & Acoustics
    • Each focus area has two (2) required core courses—at least one (1) must be in another area
    • Only one (1) Mathematical and Computational Methods course can be counted toward the four required courses
    • Course lists are subject to change

How to Apply

The Aerospace Research Graduate Certificate is available to master’s and PhD students in Duke’s Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science. Students must declare enrollment in this certificate program within their first semester.