UT Dallas Hosts AIAA Regional Student Conference

Students from the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Dallas were among those who recently hosted the 2025 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Region IV Student Conference which included attendees from institutions in Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas as well as Mexico.

Past AIAA president Benjamin Jeffery, a senior mechanical engineering student, said that the conference had significantly increased attendance as compared to that of typical years. At UT Dallas, people interested in aerospace engineering opportunities pursue several majors including mechanical engineering to business.

“We have about 250 members, so it’s one of the largest engineering organizations at UT Dallas,” Jeffery said. “We want to provide a place where students can get involved in aerospace. We have different branches — robotics, research, rocketry and aviation, all under AIAA.”

At the research-focused conference, students presented nearly 70 papers, twice as many as is typical for Region IV. In addition to the research presentations, students visited with industry representatives and enjoyed demonstrations of MATLAB as well as a workshop with the Society of Flight Test Engineers (SFTE) led by Jeff Canclini, SFTE president, and Katherine Blake, president of the North Texas division of SFTE. Dr. David Hunn, previously a senior fellow and technical director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, delivered the event’s keynote address.

Incoming president Mi Vo, a senior majoring in economics and finance at the UT Dallas School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, said that she was initially interested in AIAA because she plans to pursue a business career related to STEM.

“In high school, I was a business lead on a FIRST Robotics Competition team,” Vo said. “I was keeping track of logistics. Going into college, I wanted to be a part of an engineering club. I stumbled upon rocketry, and I fell in love with the culture.”

Jeffery added, “It was a lot of work coordinating the logistics for the regional conference, but we had a lot of positive feedback from the national organization about how the event turned out.”

Dr. Arif Malik, the faculty advisor to UT Dallas’ AIAA student organization and a professor of mechanical engineering, said, “Representatives from the AIAA national leadership remarked that it was one of the most well-planned and -executed conferences they’ve attended. The national leadership was particularly impressed that students from various disciplines across campus are actively engaged in UTD’s AIAA chapter.”

With a broader approach to aerospace engineering opportunities, UT Dallas students are preparing well for their future careers to take flight.

“I haven’t set myself on just one thing, but I am definitely interested in careers in aerospace,” Jeffery said. “I’m planning on applying to graduate school and focusing on controls engineering, and aerospace control is definitely one aspect of that.”