Iowa State has been named one of the premier engineering schools in the nation, according to Aerospace Week and Space Technology Magazine.

This publication has deemed Iowa State the No. 1 school in regards to the number of graduates hired in the aerospace and defense industry. An achievement of such caliber places Iowa State’s aerospace engineering department in the same conversation as prestigious schools such as Cal Tech and MIT.

What sets Iowa State apart from these schools, however, is “places like Cal Tech and MIT turn out some very high quality students, but they don’t turn out very many students,” said Richard Wlezien, professor and department chairman of the aerospace engineering program. “I teach a freshman class, Introduction to Aerospace Design, and it’s based on the MIT course. When MIT teaches the class, they teach it to 35 students; when I teach the class, I teach it to 230 students.”

Wlezien said Iowa State is not only up to par with the quality of students it produces but is also exceptional in terms of quantity. Given the readiness of graduates for the real world and the promising future of job availability in the aerospace and defense field, this level of success appears to be sustainable.

“There are jobs in aerospace engineering, and it doesn’t mean that everyone has to be in aerospace engineering,” Wlezien said. “There are other fields that the aerospace companies hire. The challenge aerospace companies have right now is their workforce is aging, and they’re looking to replace those people, so there are opportunities.”

With enrollment up 10 percent in the aerospace program, Wlezien said ISU graduates are primed to take advantage of the aforementioned opportunities for years to come.

One current student who has already taken advantage of a great opportunity is Prasad Raman, a senior in aerospace engineering who has completed an internship with Boeing.

“[It was] a great opportunity to take some of the classroom knowledge and apply that to a real world problem — something that’s difficult to do in a classroom setting,” Raman said. 

Similar experiences are the norm for other students within the program, as they “come back with practical knowledge that really enhances what they do in the classroom, which is something that contributes to ISU having the highest rate of graduates hired,” Wlezien said.

Stepping back to view a broader scale, ISU President Steven Leath explained how Iowa State goes about molding such high-level graduates, not only within the aerospace engineering program but universitywide.

“We’ve done a really good job at getting that blend between education and training,” Leath said. “Iowa State has found this unique sweet spot to give them a really great education. [We] teach them how to think, but [we] give them enough hands-on education so they can do stuff.”

To sustain this level of success, Leath believes maintaining a good balance is ideal.

“If we can continue to stay in that spot, we’ll do a great job of getting our kids jobs,” Leath said.