Bears Shoot for the Stars

Baylor’s premier aerospace engineering club, Aero at Baylor, has its eyes in the clouds — and for good reason. The mission of the student organization is to introduce aerospace engineering to the next generation of engineers in the Baylor and greater Waco community and to inspire students to shoot for the stars … or even Mars. Since the student organization’s inception, the group has won several competitions, raised funding for programs, and members have landed internships at aerospace companies across the country including SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, L3Harris, Boeing and others. 

Now, they’re off to greater heights as they prepare for even more competitions and the upcoming school year. 

“This summer, we’re sending a team to the Spaceport America Cup — the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket engineering conference and competition. It’s an achievement to be accepted to compete,” Josh Clark, B.S.M.E. ’24, former organization president, said. “We’ll be competing against other schools that have designed a solid-fueled rocket that will reach an altitude of 10,000 feet with off-the-shelf hardware.”

The group is excited not only to be a part of the competition but also to have the opportunity to attend the conference where some of the most prestigious aerospace companies will be present. Each member of the team has a different background and specialty — something that the student organization values and encourages. 

“I think I wasn’t sure about joining Aero initially because it was more of a hardware-oriented team and I had a software background,” Advika Govindarajan, data science major and project manager for the rocket team, said. “But I’m so thankful I joined — when I shared that I wanted to do something software-related, everyone was able to help me get those opportunities. There really is something for everyone.” 

Aero at Baylor knows better than most — a strong team requires diverse skill sets. 

“We’ve had students who are business students, marketing students — it’s not just engineering,” biomedical engineering major and chief engineer for the rocket team, Ishaan Patel, said. “It’s cool to see a lot of the people in the club support each other; and not just when it comes to what we’re doing in the club, but also outside of the club with everyday life.”

The group is excited to continue to grow together in community and bring other rocket-launching-hopefuls into their family this fall.