The Aerospace Club has been added to the over 200 clubs offered at South Dakota State University. As of Feb. 4, the Students’ Association Senate recognized the club at their weekly meeting in the Student Union.
The Aerospace Club is advised by Jeffery Doom who hopes the club will develop into an official chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Doom is associate professor of mechanical engineering and the coordinator for the aerospace minor.
Doom, as well as the members of the executive board, hope the new club will help bring the option of an aerospace engineering major to SDSU. President Turner Marr is pushing for there to be more options for students to explore what they are interested in as well.
“Our hopes and aspirations for the club are to start out by bringing the aerospace industry to SDSU,” Marr said. “We don’t see a whole lot of representation here in the [aerospace] industry.”
The club is working toward constructing an approximately 15-foot-tall rocket that will go 10,000 feet high and will compete in competitions. While the rocket will not be done until November, the club plans to continue bringing in guest speakers each month and attending conferences to broaden their understanding of the aerospace field.
“Right now, the only one [competition] we are planning on competing in is the national competition IREC [the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition]” Marr said. “IREC is the only one we’re in right now but as we build our club up there is potential to join other competitions as well.”
Delaney Baumberger is the graduate advisor for the club, she is in the first year of her master’s program in mechanical engineering. She is a driving force behind the club and getting it started, there are many events for the club ahead that she helped to plan.
“Going to UNL [University of Nebraska Lincoln] to watch a rocket launch and talk to their rocket team and learn how they do everything,” Baumberger said.
With little prior experience, the club is on a-learn-as-they-go basis. Secretary Becca Nicholson is the only member with prior rocket club experience. Nicholson, a nursing major, was involved in rocket club during her four years of high school and worked with NASA throughout that time.
“I have four years of rocket experience with NASA student launches, those are nine, nine and a half foot, high powered rockets” Nicholson said. “I have a little bit of experience everywhere that I can share.”
Competitions and constructing the rocket itself are in the near future as the club begins the planning phases of the rocket. Members hope this club is a step towards more aerospace opportunities on campus and after graduation. The aerospace club, as one of the university’s newest clubs, has many new experiences to offer students of all majors.