K-State Salina

Master of Science in Aeronautics FAQ

Welcome

Greetings, we’re glad you’ve either chosen to, or are considering taking the next step in your career with us. Please let us know along the way what we can do to make this experience more seamless and productive for you as you go through the process. Your success = our success and if it concerns you, it matters to us. This short guide is intended to help you understand some key things you’ll need to know about the process of obtaining your Master’s degree in Aeronautics here at K-State.

One of the strengths of this degree is that it is available 100% online and course completion is often at your own pace. Sometimes enrollments allow for classmates to move through a course together, in addition to having live sessions with your instructor; other times that is not the case. For a self-motivated person, it can be ideal however, know that if you are more of an externally motivated person, completing this degree successfully may require an extra measure of focus and steps of accountability to allow you to stay on track for completion. It is easy to fall behind, but not so easy to catch up. In that case you will need to find ways for yourself and perhaps others to help you stick with it.

One of the primary differences between graduate and undergraduate study is the level of student involvement in their program design and in the level of responsibility the student assumes for understanding the graduate program requirements/policies necessary for graduation. Graduate students are usually expected to demonstrate a higher level of enthusiasm for the program and to be proactive in order to avoid delays in graduation date; it is your program. Please know and follow the graduate school student guidelines: https://www.k-state.edu/grad/student-success/graduate-handbook/

 

Choosing your preferred course track (option)

One of the first things you need to consider with this degree is which course track you’re interested in. There are two:

  • The Leadership and Policy track which is designed for any aviation professional looking to equip themselves to move up vertically within their organization (or desired organization/s). Policy formulation (standards, rules, regulations, and laws), whether it be organizational, or international in scope, is one of the more impactful subject areas you will encounter in your career, and understanding how it works is a big key to success. This track does not require any specific aviation background, rather, we tailor it to your own experiences and career goals to position you with the industry knowledge and leadership training you need to lead in your particular industry sector. This is done through an individualized plan of study which may include one or two guided independent study courses where your instructor works with you to tailor the course activities and learning outcomes to your specific career needs.

 

  • The Aerospace Certification track is specifically designed for technical students- engineers and technicians, with a career focus either in manufacturing or in continuing airworthiness (maintenance). The focus of this program is to develop an understanding of both the foundations of aviation certification, as well as the processes and documents involved in taking a new product to market in the aviation/aerospace industry, or, keeping that product airworthy. For students who hold an undergraduate engineering degree, completing this course of study has been approved by the FAA to count toward one-year of experience needed to obtain the FAA’s Designated Engineering Representative (DER) status. It will also assist those interested in becoming a Designated Airworthiness Representative (DAR). This track will benefit the new and the experienced certification engineer/technician/employee alike in that the way the content is approached can vary somewhat according to the need.

 

Thesis or Capstone Project?

Another thing you will want to consider early on is whether you will pursue completing a thesis or a capstone project. This is the culmination of your specialized research focus within the program; since this is a Master’s of Science degree that is expected. The main difference between thesis and capstone centers around the effort, depth, and level of complexity required for completion. Roughly speaking, a thesis (6 credits of AVT 838 required) is twice the work as a capstone project (3 credits of AVT 836 required). Completing a thesis is highly recommended for those who plan to continue their academic pursuits beyond the Master’s level to a Doctorate/Ph.D. degree. Having gone through the thesis will make completing your Ph.D. dissertation, or doctoral thesis much easier, particularly if you continue with the same topic. Practically speaking, a thesis is a mini-version of a doctoral dissertation.

For those who are fairly certain they will not pursue a higher academic degree, those students may want to complete the capstone experience however both remain options regardless of the desired direction (i.e. students who later decide to pursue a higher degree aren’t hindered by the fact that they did not pursue the thesis option; it will just require more work).

 

Your Committee

Completion of the M.S.A. degree requires that your progress through the degree be approved and guided by your supervisory committee which also becomes your capstone/thesis committee unless you make changes. To assemble your committee you will first need to select a committee chair who functions somewhat like an undergraduate advisor and works with you to finalize your program of study, manage changes to that program of study, and complete your final project (thesis/capstone). Your full committee may only meet as a group 3 or 4 times during your entire degree experience however you should communication with your committee chair much more often. The full committee is comprised of at least 3 members, 2 of which must be K-State graduate faculty members (your chair must be within the M.S.A. program). You are allowed to use one external subject matter expert (SME) but they will need to be approved to serve by the KSU graduate school. They must either hold an advanced degree in the field relevant to your academic pursuits, or have a significant amount of work experience (decades) and generally be thought of as a leader within their area of influence. Work with your committee chair to have any external SME approved. It will require that they submit their detailed resume or CV to the graduate school for consideration.

 

Your Program of Study

Completing your program of study is required before the completion of 9 credit hours of graduate coursework. This is a student-initiated process after discussion and clearance with your primary committee chair: https://www.k-state.edu/grad/about/forms/

Your program of study can change as needed in coordination with your committee chair.

 

AVT 790 courses

790 courses are typically non-prescribed courses that are built for you individually in conversation with the course instructor. These are generally self-paced and independent study courses. They allow you to pursue a particular topic in depth. You typically need to request that these courses be added to the schedule in coordination with your committee chair who will ensure a suitable instructor is available. This needs to be done as far in advance of the requested term as possible to allow for the best chance of an instructor being available. As the student, going into these courses requires that you have pre-identified a topical focus area and have some idea of what you would like to accomplish with the course. The course instructor will then take that idea and build a set of learning outcomes and activities required to compete the course.

 

AVT 836/838

These courses are reserved for your final project however it is best to plan to accomplish these courses as soon as you are ready. AVT 836 is for capstone students and 3 credits are required. AVT 838 is reserved for thesis students and 6 credits are required for completion. For thesis students, it is recommended that the first thesis course be taken well before your final semester in the program as a full thesis (start to finish) is too much work to complete in one semester. Often 836, and the final (3) 838 credits are taken in the last semester prior to graduation however they do not need to be necessarily.

 

Your Final Project

Your final project, whether thesis or capstone, will need to be presented in a public forum (Zoom for remote students) where the entire campus is invited to attend. Often, we don’t have high numbers attend these, but we do have some. You will be required to do a 20 – 30 minute presentation of your project with visuals (usually .ppt) and then we open it up for questions. You will be the subject matter expert that day and must be prepared with a high level of subject knowledge and command of the material. This will count as your final examination in the course and, as such, must be scheduled in advance in coordination with your committee chair. Also, the graduate school has a form that needs to be processed in order to get this event scheduled. It is the “approval to schedule final examination” form found on the graduate school’s website: https://ksu.etrieve.cloud/Index#/form/98

Know that your final project will be published in K-State’s online research exchange forum (K-Rex), and as such, there are some very specific formatting guidelines for these reports. Submission of your final project to K-Rex is required for graduation: https://www.k-state.edu/grad/academics/etdr/

 

Graduation

Students must apply for graduation through the graduate school which involves a checkout process accomplished by a graduate school representative. Graduation application deadlines are very strict and occur typically around the mid-point of the semester of intended graduation. Please pay attention to the graduate school’s guidance for this process so that your commencement isn’t unnecessarily delayed: https://www.k-state.edu/grad/student-success/graduation/