Student Community

Life in Austin

Austin is consistently ranked as one of the best cities to live in. We boast a sunny, temperate climate year-round, a robust music, arts and culture scene, natural beauty built directly into the city and a welcoming, open-minded spirit. As a major technology hub with a thriving economy and job market, what starts here changes the world.

Undergraduate Community

The ASE/EM Department encourages undergraduate students to get involved and offers an hour of technical elective degree credit for every semester they work on student projects.

Student Project Labs and Organizations

• Texas Rocket Engineering Lab (TREL)
  The Texas Rocket Engineering Lab is an interdisciplinary student project research lab incubating the next generation of innovators and rocketeers at The University of Texas at Austin.
• Texas Spacecraft Laboratory (TSL)
  In the Texas Spacecraft Laboratory (TSL), undergraduate and graduate students work together to design, fabricate, test, and operate space-based tools. The TSL has traditionally focused on the creation of small satellites, and has seen missions like FASTRAC, Bevo-1, and Bevo-2 launched into Earth orbit.
• Vertical Flight Society
  UT’s student-run remote-controlled aircraft design team competes in the annual AIAA Design Build Fly (DBF) Competition.
• Longhorn Rocketry Association (LRA)
  The Longhorn Rocketry Association is a student-run amateur rocketry group at The University of Texas at Austin. The team’s mission is to enhance undergraduate education by applying classroom knowledge to design, build, and launch their own rockets.
• Women in Aerospace for Leadership and Development (WIALD)
  The Women in Aerospace for Leadership and Development seeks to provide confidence and support that will empower all women in the aerospace field of study to successes at any hands-on endeavor.
• Texas Aerial Robotics (TAR)
  Texas Aerial Robotics was established with the purpose of competing in the International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC), a highly sophisticated competition requiring teams to learn and apply skills such as computer vision, computational simulation, parallel computing, controls, design, fabrication and corporate interaction.

Leadership and Networking Organizations

• American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA)
  The UT Austin chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is a student organization for people with an interest in aviation and space. The AIAA itself is a worldwide organization of over 31,000 members and is the largest professional organization devoted to the progress of aviation and space science technology.
• Association of Computational Engineers (ACE)
  The Association of Computational Engineers is a networking and social organization for students interested in computational science and engineering. ACE hosts talks by industry representatives, socials, and volunteer opportunities with the goal of providing a community for computational engineering students and anyone interested in COE.
• LUNAR Council
  The LUNAR Council represents all student groups and organizations within the department by serving through Leadership, Undergraduate Networking And Recruitment. As an advisory council, it is a means for current undergraduates to provide continuous feedback to the department. 

Graduate Community

The ASE/EM Department encourages students to get involved in graduate student organizations to help foster social and professional relationships with members of their community.

• The Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Graduate Student Organization (AEMGO)
  AEMGO fosters relationships between graduate students, faculty, department officials, industry, UT Austin and the local community and encourages cross-disciplinary activities between graduate students to develop a sense of community and belonging.
• The Graduate Ladies of Aerospace and Mechanics (GLAM)
  GLAM supports women and non-binary individuals in the ASE/EM graduate programs. The group meets monthly for lunch or coffee (and chocolate!) to connect and discuss school, employment and life.
• Vertical Flight Society at UT
  A graduate student organization dedicated to vertical flight and competing in the annual “Design Build Vertical Fly” competition.