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Reveille The Daily
VOLUME 118, ISSUE 136
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Friday, May 2, 2014
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Students question why aerospace major isn’t offered Renee Barrow Contributing Writer
On Wednesday afternoon, the University’s Society of Automotive Engineers Aero Design Team presented its final projects, but the members are not majoring in aerospace engineering. The University does not offer it as a bachelor’s degree program. “We’re the flagship college in the state, and I think we should
offer the most technical courses possible,” said mechanical engineering senior Aaron McCloud. In fact, no universities in Louisiana offer an aerospace engineering degree program. “We are the first to offer an aerospace minor,” said Keith Gonthier, associate professor of mechanical engineering. “Short of getting a degree, this is a really good option.” Gontheir said the minor,
created in 2010, consists of 19 credit hours, including 4000-level courses like aerodynamics, vibrations, jet and rocket propulsion, aircraft design and spacecraft design. “It is designed for mechanical engineering majors,” Gonthier said. “Aerospace engineering is basically mechanical.” Some students, however, disagree with this idea. Joseph Bosley, an aerospace
FLYING
engineering freshman at the University of Alabama, is from the Baton Rouge area. He said he elected not to attend college closer to his home because there is no established aerospace engineering department. Bosley said when applying to colleges, he quickly learned about Louisiana’s lack of options for his interest in aerospace engineering. “It really did surprise me because there is a NASA center in
New Orleans,” Bosley said. “Once I heard that [the major was not offered], I pretty much started looking out of state.” Bosley said the program a student attends has a high potential to affect a future career path. “Companies tend to pay a lot of attention to what program you go to,” Bosley said. “I don’t know how much someone AEROSPACE, see page 6
LSU Wake soars out of Monroe tournament
HIGH
WORDS DEANNA NARVESON
T
Contributing Writer
LSU wakeboarders Jordan Hughes (top), Kyle Jordan (left middle), Nick Vaccari (left bottom) and Brandon Lauber (middle) perform tricks Wednesday in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
PHOTOS ANGELA MAJOR
Staff Photographer
hree comepting wakeboarders took to the water Saturday at the final installment of the Louisiana Collegiate Wake Tour in Monroe before it was Kyle Jordan’s turn to ride. Jordan, a mechanical engineering junior, got on his board and executed a raley, launching in the air like Superman, before moving into a series of aerial tricks, jumps and grabs. This was the fourth tournament of the school year for LSU Wake, the University’s wakeboarding and wakeskating club. The team went into the tournament after a disappointing score at a tournament in Mississippi earlier this month and with only eight team members able to compete, said Brannon Lauber, business senior. They redeemed themselves that afternoon when they found out they won the tournament by the small margin of half a point, Lauber said. LSU Wake won the entire Louisiana Collegiate Wake Tour, beating other universities in the region and qualifying for the national tournament in Shreveport on May 30. In wakeboard tournaments, Lauber said, the boat goes down to the end of the course and turns around to go back to the starting point, allowing time for about six tricks. Each of the six divisions WAKEBOARDING, see page 15