Making sure those systems engineers who can make the Apache, and all the other army helicopters stay the best in the world is a job that UAH is about to take on. Under the auspices of the Army Aviation and Missile Research Development Engineering Center at Redstone Arsenal, and the Program Executive Office for Army Aviation, which also on the base, UAH is starting a new engineering program.
It's a Master's of Science in Engineering with a concentration on Rotorcraft Systems Engineering. The new concentration will make UAH one of just two centers of Rotorcraft excellence in the south. Dr. James Snider is the director of the UAH center, and he is excited. "It's a big deal, this area has become the home of army aviation. We have the Aviation Missile command, the PEO for aviation. Fort Rucker is the home of the War Fighter Center. So this is a natural for this area. Alabama is the home of army aviation, so UAH has to be the intellectual base for that home," says Dr. Snider.
The Rotorcraft Center is recruiting students for the new program, and expects to begin work in May. The students will have their graduate efforts fully funded by the army, but they'll have to pay that back. For every month a student is in the program at UAH, they owe the army three months. That will likely mean each student will be working at Redstone for three years. Of course those will be engineering jobs that pay well.
It would appear to be a win, win situation. Students get a graduate degree, and a guaranteed job. The army gets new talent in a very important field. American soldiers get the best helicopters in the world. [End]