Missouri S&T Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - MAE

Back-to-back world champions! 🏆

Missouri S&T’s Mars Rover Design Team won the University Rover Challenge for the second consecutive year, competing against 35 teams from across the U.S. and around the world at the Mars Desert Research Station in Hanksville, Utah.

The team’s rover, Athena, earned a final score of 469.57 — more than 50 points ahead of second place — with perfect scores in both the equipment servicing and delivery missions.

Congratulations to the entire team on this incredible achievement!

Read more: https://news.mst.edu/2026/06/missouri-sts-mars-rover-design-team-wins-university-rover-challenge-for-second-year-in-a-row/

Missouri S&T’s Mars Rover Design Team wins University Rover Challenge for second year in a row The Mars Rover Design Team at Missouri University of Science and Technology has won the University Rover Challenge for the second consecutive year, after competing against 35 teams from across the country and around the world.

Missouri S&T’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering helped bring engineering to life for approximately 800 elementary school students during STEM Day.

MAE ambassadors, faculty and student teams led hands-on activities featuring robotics, aerospace systems, circuits, lab demonstrations and more. Students interacted with a VR escape room robot, a ball-launching robot, a drivable robotic car and robotic arms through the KUKA Robotics Lab team. Faculty members Dr. Davide Viganò, Dr. Jill Schmidt and Dr. Hank Pernicka also welcomed students into labs for wind tunnel, satellite and circuit-related activities.

Thank you to our MAE ambassadors, the KUKA Robotics Lab team, Rolla High School’s FIRST Tech Robotics Team and all who helped inspire the next generation of engineers!

Read more: https://maenews.mst.edu/featured/mae-ambassadors-faculty-and-student-teams-support-missouri-st-stem-day/

MAE ambassadors, faculty and student teams support Missouri S&T STEM Day Missouri S&T’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering helped bring engineering to life for approximately 800 elementary school students during STEM Day, held on campus for kindergarten through sixth-grade students. MAE faculty, student ambassadors and student teams participated in ...

Missouri S&T’s chapter of Sigma Gamma Tau, the national honor society for aerospace engineering, is taking flight again after a six-year pause.

With support from Dr. David Bayless and Dr. Donna Jennings, the revitalized chapter initiated 19 students as its first new class in six years. Members have already made an impact through community outreach, department service and events that bring MAE students, faculty and staff together.

The chapter is also looking ahead, with plans to expand industry engagement, organize trips to aerospace conferences and create more networking opportunities for high-performing aerospace engineering students.

Read more: https://maenews.mst.edu/featured/sigma-gamma-tau-aerospace-honor-society-takes-flight-again-at-missouri-st/

Sigma Gamma Tau Aerospace Honor Society takes flight again at Missouri S&T Missouri S&T’s chapter of Sigma Gamma Tau, the national honor society for aerospace engineering, is taking flight again after a six-year pause. The revitalization effort, initiated by Dr. David Bayless, chair of mechanical and aerospace engineering, sought to rebuild the organization following...

Congratulations to Dr. Ming C. Leu, Keith and Pat Bailey Missouri Professor and Curators’ Distinguished Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, on being named Missouri S&T’s Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation.

In this campuswide leadership role, Dr. Leu will support strategic research initiatives, assist faculty with major research proposals, provide oversight of sponsored programs and proposal development, and help strengthen interdisciplinary and industry partnerships.

An internationally recognized leader in additive manufacturing, smart manufacturing, intelligent robotics, artificial intelligence and cyber-physical systems, Dr. Leu has contributed nearly 45 years of academic leadership and innovation.

Read more: https://maenews.mst.edu/featured/dr-ming-leu-named-associate-vice-chancellor-for-research-and-innovation/

Dr. Ming Leu named Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation Dr. Ming C. Leu, the Keith and Pat Bailey Missouri Professor and Curators’ Distinguished Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Missouri S&T, has been appointed Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation. He will begin his new duties Monday, June 1. “I am both honore...

Missouri S&T researchers are helping aerospace engineers better understand what happens inside supersonic wind tunnels — where air can move up to four times faster than the speed of sound.

Dr. Davide Viganò, assistant professor of aerospace engineering, developed a physics-based computational model that more accurately predicts wind tunnel conditions by accounting for heat transfer, pressure losses and other factors. His model reduced the difference between predicted and measured temperatures from roughly 10% to less than 2%.

The study was published in The Aeronautical Journal and included Noah Cain, a 2024 Missouri S&T aerospace engineering graduate, who contributed to the research as a Dean’s Undergraduate Research Scholar.

Read more: https://news.mst.edu/2026/05/supersonic-success-st-scholars-sharpen-wind-tunnel-simulations/

Supersonic success: S&T scholars sharpen wind tunnel simulations Researchers at Missouri S&T have developed a more accurate way to predict conditions inside wind tunnels that are used to study how air behaves at speeds up to four times faster than the speed of sound, or over 3,000 miles per hour.

Congratulations to Dr. Fateme Fayyazbakhsh, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Missouri S&T, on receiving the Wound Healing Society’s 2026 Early-Career Faculty Award.

The award recognizes early-career faculty advancing research in wound healing and supporting continued professional growth. Fayyazbakhsh was unanimously selected by the society’s executive committee as one of two recipients for 2026.

Her research focuses on smart biomaterials, bioprinting, transdermal drug delivery systems, AI-powered diagnostics for wound care and bioastronautics — exploring how conditions in space affect human health and healing.

Read more: https://news.mst.edu/2026/04/missouri-st-professor-receives-wound-healing-societys-early-career-faculty-award/

Missouri S&T professor receives Wound Healing Society’s Early-Career faculty award Dr. Fateme Fayyazbakhsh, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Missouri S&T, was awarded the Wound Healing Society’s 2026 Early-Career Faculty Award during the organization’s annual meeting held earlier this month in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Congratulations to the 2026 MAE Future Research Pioneers Program awardees!

The Future Research Pioneers Program (FRPP) supports outstanding undergraduate students with strong potential to become future research leaders in mechanical and aerospace engineering. This year’s awardees will work alongside MAE faculty mentors on projects ranging from agile robotics and CubeSat design to carbon capture, astronaut health monitoring, advanced manufacturing, rover navigation and more.

Each awardee will receive an $8,000 stipend over 12 weeks to support their research journey.

We are proud to celebrate these exceptional students and the faculty mentors who are helping them explore the future of engineering research.

Read more: https://maenews.mst.edu/featured/2026-mae-future-research-pioneers-program-awardees-announced/

2026 MAE Future Research Pioneers Program awardees announced We are thrilled to announce the recipients of the MAE Future Research Pioneers Program (FRPP) for the 2026 academic year. The FRPP is dedicated to identifying and supporting outstanding undergraduate students with significant potential to become future research pioneers in the dynamic fields of Mech...

Missouri S&T celebrated a major milestone with the opening of the Missouri Protoplex, a 117,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility and the first building on S&T’s Manufacturing Technology and Innovation Campus.

Located at 1700 White Columns Drive in Rolla, the Protoplex features 40,000 square feet of high-bay manufacturing space, more than 60 industrial-scale pieces of equipment and manufacturing systems, and new opportunities for students, researchers, startups and industry partners to collaborate.

Nearly 500 guests attended the April 15 opening, touring the facility and seeing demonstrations from students and engineers.

The Protoplex will help strengthen U.S. manufacturing, drive economic development and build the talent pipeline for tomorrow’s workforce.

Read more: https://news.mst.edu/2026/04/st-opens-missouri-protoplex-for-advanced-manufacturing/

S&T opens Missouri Protoplex for advanced manufacturing Nearly 500 people celebrated the opening of the Missouri Protoplex on April 15 at the new facility, located at 1700 White Columns Drive in Rolla. The 117,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility is the first building in Missouri S&T’s Manufacturing Technology and Innovation Campus.

Missouri S&T’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering is hiring an Office Support Assistant IV in Rolla.

This full-time role supports graduate student services, faculty coordination, HR-related paperwork, travel and room reservations, seminar tracking, and other key departmental operations.

The position requires a high school diploma or equivalent plus at least five years of relevant experience, and the anticipated hiring range is $15.50–$20.32 per hour. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

Apply here: https://erecruit.umsystem.edu/psp/tamext/COLUM/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM_FL.HRS_CG_SEARCH_FL.GBL?Page=HRS_APP_JBPST_FL&Action=U&SiteId=2&FOCUS=Applicant&SiteId=2&JobOpeningId=59299&PostingSeq=1

Missouri Space Grant is helping bring astronomy to the airwaves through Astro Brief — a weekly radio feature produced in collaboration with KSMU and Missouri State University’s Physics, Astronomy and Materials Science Department.

Hosted by Dr. Mike Reed, the program makes astronomy more accessible through engaging conversations about current discoveries, astronomical events and more. Tune in Thursdays at 9:45 a.m. and explore recent episodes online.

Read more: https://missourispacegrant.mst.edu/updates/missouri-space-grant-helps-bring-astronomy-to-the-airwaves-through-astro-brief/