Aerospace program expands

Longtime dream of academia, industry and students nears launch

From his office in the Palmer Engineering building, Mechanical Engineering Department Chair Petros Voulgaris is piloting the future of the aerospace engineering program. Thanks to a $36 million gift from the Gillemot Foundation, aerospace engineering — a minor-degree program — will expand to a bachelor’s degree program and eventually to graduate programs. 

“Aerospace is a dynamic and critical industry, and this new program will prepare our students to work in all aspects of this field,” Interim Dean Indira Chatterjee said.

The aerospace program has been years in the making, with community members, industry, academia, donors and others have been working toward this goal for the past 20 years. 

For students like Katelyn Rovig, who’s studying mechanical engineering and minoring in aerospace, it means opportunity. 

The Reno native has always been fascinated with space and the stars, and originally pursued aerospace studies out of state. When circumstances landed her back in Nevada, she was able to continue exploring those educational goals at the University of Nevada, Reno.

“I wouldn’t have had that without the aerospace program at UNR,” she said. 

This past summer, she was able to study adaptive control systems on helicopter-like drones during an internship secured with the help of graduate research assistant Jessica Peterson.

The internship was at the University of Illinois, which is in a partnership with the University of Nevada, Reno through a NASA University Leadership Initiative grant Voulgaris works on. Rovig worked on a team researching adaptive control systems: systems designed so the machine can respond to uncertain dynamics — unbalanced weight, damage to a propeller — and stabilize itself. The goal, Rovig said, is for the aircraft to fly well and safely on its own.

“Eventually, we could put people in these things,” Rovig said.

Growing aerospace ecosystem

The College began offering the aerospace minor in 2021 within the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the branch of engineering most closely related to aerospace. Fifty-three students were in the program during the spring 2024 semester, with numbers expected to grow as the curriculum expands to offer a major and graduate degrees. 

Those degrees could lead to a range of careers, as “aerospace” is a broad field that includes everything from aircraft and spacecraft design to the development of new technologies for defense systems and space exploration, according to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. 

Meanwhile, interest in aerospace is growing: a student aerospace club has formed, launching model rockets in the Black Rock Desert and other open spaces in northern Nevada; and the Mechanical Engineering Department has been working with such groups as the nonprofit Pathways to Aviation to encourage interest in aerospace in younger students. 

There’s also the Nevada NASA Space Grant Consortium administered by the Nevada System of Higher Education, a program that funds the research of some Wolf Pack professors and students, including Rovig’s mentor, Ph.D. student Jessica Peterson, who helped her get the internship at the University of Illinois. Peterson, who also is a part-time flight test engineer instructor for the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California, is researching real-time determination of aircraft performance. 

Concurrently, Nevada could be in position to support a growing aerospace industry. It is one of seven states designated by the Federal Aviation Administration as an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) test site. Nevada’s test site — operated by Nevada Autonomous, a University program within the Nevada Center for Applied Research — was granted a waiver in April 2024 that will allow more expansive, un-crewed flights operating beyond the visual line of sight of the remote pilot. Additionally, Nevada is home to Nellis and Creech Air Force bases as well as Naval Air Station Fallon. 

Nevada’s aerospace industry employed about 21,158 people in 2025, according to the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED), up 56% from 2015. GOED lists aerospace and defense as one of the state’s target industries. 

“There’s a growing aerospace ecosystem in Nevada,” Vouglaris said. 

And the University is poised to propel that forward.