EDUCATION

Flying Toward the Future

St. Mary’s University launches drone-focused engineering degree

BY KATHLEEN PETTY

Voyage to the Deep

Three features to explore in The DoSeum’s latest exhibit, which is inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and is on loan from the Australian National Maritime Museum through Sept. 25

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rones will not only be delivering Amazon packages, prescriptions and groceries in the years to come, they also will be measuring soil saturation and transporting organs from one hospital to another in record time, says Dante Tezza, assistant professor of computer/software engineering at St. Mary’s University. And that’s just the start of the technology’s capabilities, he adds.

As the industry grows, St. Mary’s University students will be ready to fill jobs as drone designers, programmers and operators thanks to a new degree program launching this month.

“Drones are here to stay,” Tezza says. “There are very few schools that are focusing on this emerging job market, so this new program really prepares them for that.”

The degree, which is a bachelor’s in engineering science with a concentration in unmanned aerial systems, includes courses on everything from building drones from scratch to developing programs and applications to help operate them. Each student also will take operations classes to prepare them for the Federal Aviation Administration’s drone pilot exam.

In addition to classroom work, students in both the drone concentration and in other majors have access to a 1,734-squarefoot lab that opened in March. At 25 feet tall, the lab allows students to complete research, class assignments, test programs and operate drones in the building. Already students have developed an emergency alert system that deploys parachutes to help a drone land safely when something goes wrong in flight.

Bahman Rezaie, Ph.D., professor of electrical engineering, was one of the early advocates for adding drone research to the university as the industry expands. He says the technology is certainly not new but that until recent years it has been used mostly by the military, including at Joint Base San Antonio.

Tezza knows most people imagine Amazon deliveries when they think of drones, but he says their capabilities stretch far beyond that. In agriculture, he says, one study has shown that drones can accurately measure moisture in the soil, allowing farmers to conserve water while yielding better crop outcomes. In hospitals, drones have delivered organs for transplant surgery from one facility to another more quickly than ambulances. They can even be used for simpler things like roof inspections. “When we designed the curriculum, we were really focusing on the broad spectrum so students have a foundation that allows them to work in any of those areas,” he says.

Head into Nautilus

An oversized replica of Capt. Nemo’s submarine fills the bulk of The DoSeum’s special exhibition space this summer. Snap a photo of the large orange squid sitting atop Nautilus and then head inside where kids can take the wheel and steer through the sea or peer through a periscope into the water. Meredith Doby, vice president of exhibits, says this is among the most immersive visiting exhibits to date.

Live Underwater

Pretend you are part of Capt. Nemo’s crew by testing out submarine bunks, looking inside the crew’s lockers—which open up to touch screens with information about what might be needed to survive at sea—and surveying the galley, or kitchen, which is full of strange foods. Signage works to explain to children that Nemo relied on the sea for everything, from food to power, and that it will take work from us today to maintain the oceans and those resources.

Find the Fun

The exhibit has plenty of STEM and narrative lessons, Doby says, but it’s also lots of fun. Send your kids down the twisting blue slide that was added to the outside of the Nautilus replica. Inside, there’s a pipe organ on which children can play plus a “cabinet of curiosities” with Nemo’s books, shells and tools. Upstairs, head to the Innovation Station and learn about how to cultivate a fish tank at home thanks to a video produced with Sea Life San Antonio Aquarium.

Ban on Barkley / During an interview on The Fan earlier this summer, former NBA player and current Inside the NBA on TNT analyst Charles Barkley said he’s tired of “cancel culture,” which he says led his bosses to bar him from mocking on air the “big ‘ol women down in San Antonio”—something he has done during NBA Playoff coverage for years. Barkley insists his repeated comments about local women being overweight were jokes made in good fun. The characterization is one that women on Twitter certainly disagree with, and one it seems his producers now disagree with as well.

Handle with Care / A San Antonio Pizza Hut delivery driver was fired this summer after a Nest doorbell camera caught him literally tossing a pizza box onto a Stone Oak porch. After a few slices slipped out of the box during his throw, he picked them up and placed them back in the pie, leaving a couple of pepperoni slices behind on the doormat as evidence of his bad aim, and even worse judgment.

Historic Gift / After donating more than $60 million to San Antonio organizations, including Palo Alto College, earlier this year, MacKenzie Scott announced in June that she has more to give. The ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said she is donating $40 million to UTSA and $15 million to San Antonio College— the largest gifts both schools have ever received. The donations are part of $2.74 billion in gifts that Scott and husband Dan Jewett handed out to over 280 organizations nationwide.

Fan Fest / After it was canceled in 2020, Celebrity Fan Fest returns to San Antonio July 30 through Aug. 8, bringing the chance to snag autographs and selfies (for a price) from stars like Hayden Christensen (known for his role as Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars), Krysten Ritter (of Marvel’s Jessica Jones), and Ewan McGregor (who has appeared in everything from Star Wars: Episode IX and Trainspotting to Moulin Rouge!).