Students of Aerospace Engineering 160 may have noticed they aren’t attending a traditional lecture. This fall, rather than cramming into a classroom or piling into a lecture hall, these soon-to-be engineers are taking a course at Howe Hall in the atrium.

“We wanted to do something very different,” said Richard Wlezien, professor and chairman of the department of aerospace engineering. “How many classes have you seen in an atrium on campus?”

The makeshift classroom is a collection of chairs and tables under the stairs across from the VRAC C6. Although students and faculty pass through, sleep on benches or just plain stare, the students listen attentively as they study the fundamentals of form drag and airfoil technology.

“We’re trying to get students excited about aerospace engineering,” he said. “This case is based on a course taught at MIT. We teach a little bit of programming, but it’s really given to give them an exposure to what it means to be an engineer.”

The goal of putting the class in the atrium was to attract students to engineering and help them beat the boredom of the traditional classroom, Wlezien said. Instead, he wants to provide a welcome and laid-back atmosphere for students and to help them recapture their love for engineering and to learn life skills that transcend a technical education.

“I like it,” said Ross Droppert, freshman in aerospace engineering. “It seems a lot more casual compared to my 400-some odd people lecture for chemistry. That one seems pretty formal-ish. I like this.”

Despite the occasional traffic and extraneous noise, the young aerospace engineers were surprisingly attentive.

“I was trying to take notes, but it’s harder to see some of the subscripts and some of the stuff on the equations,” said Brandon Nelson, freshman in aerospace engineering. “I’d say that’s a downfall, but other than that, it’s OK.”

Although the change is still in the trial phase, Wlezien is optimistic about the evolving job market and changing scene of aerospace engineering at Iowa State.

“With the changes within the university, we’re becoming more and more conscious of student retention,” he said. “The companies have realized that setting the bar in the wrong place, they’re scaring students away.”