Above: Members of our LUNAR (Leadership, Undergraduate Networking and Recruitment) Council.
Learn more about this outstanding group of students here.

As the fall semester nears its end, I would like to wish you and yours a bright holiday season and joyous new year. We also extend our most sincere gratitude for the contributions we have received from our donors over the past year. I hope you will enjoy learning more about just a few of the innovative and exciting projects our students and faculty have been working on in this issue of our e-newsletter. Hook 'em!

- Professor Noel Clemens, ASE/EM Dept. Chair

On Friday, October 25, Maruthi Akella and graduate student Miki Szmuk performed a field test to demonstrate the autonomous flight capability of UAVs which will be used by NASA's IceBridge program to collect environmental data in the Arctic and polar regions, including data on melting glaciers. read more

Women in Aerospace are Growing in Numbers

You may have seen the Rube Goldberg inspired commercial for a new line of toys to motivate young girls to consider engineering. The commercial parodied the lyrics to a famous Beastie Boys’ song to “Girls to build the spaceship. Girls to code the new app. Girls to grow up knowing that they can engineer that." In the UT ASE/EM department, we are working hard to ensure we don’t miss out on the talent of half the population. read more

Learn the latest on what's happening with our student projects, including WIALD, UAV, LRA and Design/Build/Fly. We asked some of these students how support from our generous alumni and friends have made a difference in their education and lives. read more

The Longhorn Rocketry Association held its first launch of the year in November. view photos and read the story

As we gather with our families over the holiday season, let us not forget the family and friends who are no longer with us. Their legacies live on through our shared memories. In 2013, we lost Professors Eric Becker and Raynor Duncombe who helped shape the department into the top-ranked program it is today. Professor Byron Tapley lost his wife Sophie who hosted so many of his students. Alumnus Randy Stone '67 passed away, but not before sharing his life lessons as former NASA-JSC Deputy Director and Director of Mission Operations with our students. read more

• Congratulations to our Fall 2013 graduates! view graduation photos here
• Undergraduate student Bryce Ewalt received the Cockrell's Outstanding Scholar-Leader Award
  
• Graduate student Kelley Hutchins wins prestigious NASA Fellowship. more student news
  
• The ASE/EM Fall Festival was enjoyed by many! view photos
• Saturday, March 1, 2014—Save the Date for the Explore UT, The Biggest House in Texas!

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