Taking Flight
Baylor’s premier aerospace engineering club, Aero at Baylor, has aspirations that are out of this world — and for good reason.
This summer the club’s 3D Printed Aircraft Team competed in the 6th Annual 3D Printed Aircraft Competition hosted by UT Arlington. The team pulled off the win, beating out teams that included Stanford, Virginia Tech, San Diego State and others. Additionally, the group set the record for longest duration flight in the seven-year history of the competition and won a $1,000 prize to support future club endeavors.
The group comprises talented students who’ve received internships at aerospace companies across the country including SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, L3Harris and Boeing. The club’s president, Annika Moser, a senior from Columbia, Missouri, is currently interning at SpaceX, and will be heading to Florida in the fall as a launch operation intern for Falcon 9.
“It’s incredible because it was another Baylor grad who helped me get this opportunity in Florida,” Moser said. “He told me, ‘we need more Baylor Bears in SpaceX,’ and we believe that Aero at Baylor helps create those opportunities. Now, I’ll hopefully be able to help students in the future receive similar experiences.”
Additionally, the organization is excited to witness how Baylor is continuing to grow, especially as an R1 institution. Last spring, Aero at Baylor’s officers helped advocate for the School of Engineering and Computer Science to start an aerospace engineering concentration that was unanimously approved by Baylor’s Board of Regents in May.
“Baylor being an R1 institution is a big deal to us,” Clark said. “A lot of our club members get connected with aeronautics professors or mechanical engineering professors and work with them on research throughout the year. It’s because of them that we get opportunities to build our resumé and work at places like SEKISUI Aerospace — where I interned this summer.”
This school year, the student organization hopes to continue to grow and learn together as they prepare for the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) in 2023. Additionally, the group hopes to partner with other student organizations like Baylor Society of Women Engineers, Baylor University National Society of Black Engineers and more.
“My hope for Aero this year is that any student — business major, mathematics major, physics, elementary education — whoever wants to join feels welcomed into the space at Aero Baylor,” Moser said. “Diversity is super important, especially in engineering aspects — all people are welcome to be a part of the group! We want to continue to spread the joy of space exploration and flight.”