Aerospace Engineering Ph.D.

The program emphasizes balance in aerospace science and technology, both basic and applied, to prepare students for the diverse opportunities at the frontiers of research, in contemporary industrial development, and in government agencies.
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The Ph.D. program provide advanced levels of training suitable for students pursuing careers in research and development, education, or government service. The field does not admit students into an M.S.-only degree program; applicants may apply for the Ph.D. program with a bachelor’s degree.

The faculty is particularly strong and active in aerospace vehicle dynamics and feedback control, wind energy, celestial mechanics, the Global Positioning System, and spacecraft systems engineering, as well as in basic aerosciences including transonic flows, turbulence, nonequilibrium gas dynamics, unsteady and vortical flows, combustion processes, transport processes in microgravity and chemical kinetics.

Strategic Research Areas

Concentrations

Each field has a number of concentrations from which to choose. Faculty members in the field can represent one or more concentrations within the field.

  • Aerodynamics

  • Aerospace systems

  • Biomedical mechanics

  • Dynamics and control

  • Materials and structures

  • Propulsion

  • Thermal sciences

Ph.D. student Giuliana Hofheins with a high-tech chamber used in her research.

  • Sibley School Ph.D. Student Wins Amelia Earhart Fellowship

    Giuliana Hofheins, a third-year Ph.D. student in aerospace engineering at Cornell, has been selected for a 2025 Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship. Hofheins is one of 35 women across the world to receive one of the $10,000 awards in 2025 and will be presented with a set of wings from the Zonta International Foundation in the fall.

    At Cornell, Hofheins works with Professor Elaine Petro in ASTRAlab. As a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities (NSTGRO) Fellow, her research is focused on ionic liquid electrospray propulsion diagnostics. She earned her undergraduate degree in physics from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee and has spent summers both at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and The Aerospace Corporation.

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  • Location

    Cornell is located in the beautiful New York Finger Lakes region with an abundance of outdoor activities, natural beauty and thriving restaurant and brewery scene. Ithaca is also within easy driving distance of New York City, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.