Stanford
Aeronautics and Astronautics

Undergraduate Research

Research Opportunities for Undergraduate Students

The main research opportunity for undergraduate students is applying for our summer REU program, more about that below. Please also explore these other opportunities for research.

Enroll in AA 199

Students may enroll in an independent study course like AA 199 to work on a research project under faculty member for elective credit towards their major. Please email faculty directly if you are interested in enrolling in an AA 199 with them to see what projects are available in their lab that quarter.

Explore Independent Undergraduate Research Grants

Major Grant: get support for a full-time immersive Summer project (priority given to Juniors). Most Major Grants are awarded to students beginning an honors thesis. Explore Major Grants

Small Grant: get support for a part-time project year-round. Students interested in applying for a Small Grant should connect with their Faculty Mentor regarding their proposed project. Explore Small Grants

Conference Grants: Get support for a scholarly conference you have been accepted to. Conference Grants support students who have been accepted to *present* their own projects at professional or scholarly convenings (e.g., academic conference) Explore Conference Grants

Utilize Skilling Laboratory 

The Stanford Aeronautics & Astronautics Skilling Laboratory provides space and a community of practice for Aeronautics & Astronautics students to ideate, create, and make to develop technical, creative, and practical skills. Access to the space is only for Aeronautics & Astronautics students enrolled in Aeronautics & Astronautics courses. Skilling also offers the chance to work on independent maker projects monthly during its Open Lab Days. For more information contact Dr. Sonia Travaglini, Aeronautics & Astronautics Skilling & Learning Specialist, drsonia@stanford.edu and Visit the Skilling Lab website.

REU Program

The Aero/Astro Research Experience for Undergraduates (Aero/Astro REU) program is designed to give undergraduates the chance to work with faculty and their research groups on advanced research projects over the summer.  Selected students will receive a stipend of $8000 + up to $1,500 need-based supplement (if student qualifies). Please review VPUE's Stipend Processes and Procedures to learn more. Full-time means devoting 35+ hours/week for 10 consecutive weeks, i.e., it is the student's primary activity that quarter. Program dates: June 23 to August 29, 2025 (slight exceptions may be arranged with research advisor). After completion of the program, there will be a poster session to present your research on final week. Location: Skilling Lab.

Eligibility:

Students must be current undergraduates in good standing at Stanford:

  • Students must be enrolled in units while using grant funding, except during the Summer.
  • Students must be in the undergraduate (not graduate) tuition group while using grant funding.
  • Coterm students should read this Registrar webpage for details on when you are switched to graduate tuition.
  • Students may not be serving a suspension.
  • Students may not be on a Leave of Absence (LOA) while using grant funding. Students who have been on LOA for 3 consecutive quarters prior to the funding period are not eligible (e.g., Autumn, Winter, and Spring for the Chappell Lougee and Major Grant).
  • Student athletes should confirm the impact of any awarded stipend on their athletic eligibility by contacting the Compliance Services Office prior to submitting their application.
  • Stipends, prizes, or awards to students who are receiving other forms of financial aid for any purpose are a form of financial assistance and may require adjustment to their scholarship eligibility, and/or adjustment to their overall cost of attendance. The Financial Aid Office has the responsibility to determine whether adjustments are necessary and it is the student's individual responsibility to contact the Financial Aid Office about the impact of any awarded grant to their overall cost of attendance.

Room, board, house dues, and other academic expenses are paid by the student. Students are responsible for paying their university summer bill, including any other academic expenses incurred. Please consult the housing office for more information regarding rates and summer housing deadlines.

How to Apply

Summer 2025 applications open January 6, 2025! 

Application link will be Posted HERE on that date.

Application Deadline: March 16, 2025,

Students who are interested in participating should seek out research opportunities directly with Aero/Astro faculty. While securing a commitment with a faculty member is not required to apply, priority is given to students who have already secured a faculty match. Please look at the projects below. If you are interested in a lab but it's not listed, please reach out to the faculty as they may be interested in hosting you!

With the limited space availability, priority will be assigned in the following order:

  1. Declared Aero/Astro majors* with a secured faculty commitment
  2. Undeclared students with a secured faculty commitment
  3. Other engineering majors with a secured faculty commitment
  4. Undeclared students without a secured faculty commitment

*Coterminal students on graduate billing are not eligible for VPUE stipends.  

All interested applicants, with or without a faculty match, must complete the REU Summer 2025 Application by the deadline. Upon submission, Aero/Astro Student Services will work to either confirm your listed faculty match or use your listed research interests to match you with a faculty advisor. 

Announcement of awards or waitlisting will be released on a rolling basis.

REU 2025 projects will be finalized and announced in the coming months. If interested, we highly encourage you to explore Aero/Astro lab websites and reach out directly to faculty to discuss REU 2025 placement.

 

REU 2024 Projects

Professor Anton Ermakov, email: aie@stanford.edu. 

Project Description: 

How smooth are lava lakes Jupiter’s moon Io and what does it tell us about Io’s volcanism?

On Feb 3, 2024, Juno had a flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io. Io is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System. Its surface is covered by geologically young lava flows from dozens of volcanic centers. The observations by the camera onboard Juno (JunoCam) revealed that the surface of lava lakes is mirror-like. That is, it exhibits specular (as opposed to diffuse) reflection.

Four images shown below were taken during the flyby. The horseshoe shaped feature is the largest volcanic lake on Io called Loki Patera. It can be seen that the lava lake surface, which is normally much darker than the surrounding terrain, appears brighter at the left image.

 

The project is to quantify the strength specular reflection and relate it to the properties of the surface. For example, the surface of lava lakes must be very smooth to be mirror like. Thus, the lava might have been of low viscosity and with no bubbles. The project will involve JunoCam image processing, literature review and numerical modeling of the specular reflection.

Prerequisites: strong programming background (Matlab, Python). It would be preferred (but not required) if you have taken Geophysics or EPS classes on anything related to volcanos.

Morphing Space Structures Lab, Professor Manan Arya, email: manan.arya@stanford.edu if you are interested. 

Project description: The REU student will assist with the construction of small-scale prototypes of large unfolding structures for space applications, e.g., large radio reflectors or high-power solar arrays. These small-scale prototypes, measuring around 1 m in size, would be used for assessing and furthering the design of these structures. Some of the prototypes will be realized using low-fidelity materials, such as 3D-printed plastic, laser-cut sheets, and folded paper. Some of these prototypes will be realized using higher-fidelity materials to enable the experimental characterization of these prototypes.

Eligibility requirements: strong background in design, CAD, and prototyping. Knowledge of structures and structural analysis is important.

Aerospace Design Laboratory (ADL), Professor Juan Alonso, email: jjalonso@stanford.edu if you are interested.

The Aerospace Design Laboratory (ADL) fosters the use of high-fidelity analysis and design tools in a variety of aerospace design problems including aircraft, turbomachinery, launch vehicles, helicopters and spacecraft. Aerospace Design Laboratory (ADL)

Reconfigurable Structures Lab, Professor Maria Sakovsky, email: sakovsky@stanford.edu if you are interested.

Project description: Our research explores aerospace structures that can learn from inputs in their environment and change their mechanical properties on demand. Imagine a satellite solar array that passively reorients to face the sun without repointing the satellite or a robotic explorer that learns to navigate around obstacles by changing its type of locomotion. We are looking for students with experience and interest in materials and structures. Projects range from performing mechanical characterization of structures, to integrating sensors, to writing code to control the structures.

Space Rendezvous Laboratory (SLAB), Professor Simone D'amico, email: damicos@stanford.edu if you are interested.

Project description: "Autonomous and distributed spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) is an enabling technology for sustainable spaceflight, including on-orbit servicing to prolong the lifetime of space assets (e.g., through inspection, refueling and repair) and to remove space debris (e.g., through their characterization and de-orbiting). These projects investigate and develop new algorithms at the intersection of optimal control, computer vision and machine learning to enable the above in a spectrum of scenarios from known cooperative (on-orbit servicing) to unknown non-cooperative (debris removal) resident space objects. This research work leverages the experience and expertise of the Stanford’s Space Rendezvous Lab in the design and validation of robust algorithms for distributed space systems. The research is done in collaboration with external partners at various space companies (Blue, Redwire, TenOneSpace, etc)"

Stanford Intelligent Systems Laboratory (SISL), Professor Mykel Kochenderfer,  If interested please apply at: https://forms.gle/Cboj8cJTa3JaXYG89

We are looking for an undergraduate to work on algorithms for decision making under uncertainty, applied to a variety of applications ranging from space exploration to unmanned aircraft. Programming knowledge in Julia or Python is required. Ideally, students will have taken AA228 already. 

Structures And Composites Laboratory (SACL), Professor Fu-Kuo Chang. Welcome to apply! Follow the link for more information: https://sacld8.sites.stanford.edu/

 Join our dynamic research team at the Structures and Composites Lab (SACL) within the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department. We are looking for motivated, independent, students interested in research on developing multifunctional energy storage composites (MESC) for the next generation of electronic vehicles and aircraft.

We currently have two openings for some active projects and successful applicants will have the opportunity to get training in an academic program specialty and adopt professional skills to participate in two programs:

1. Experimental Program including Lithium-Ion Battery Fabrication, MESC Specimen Fabrication, Testing MESC Specimen (Peel, Thermal-Expansion, Fatigue, Impact, etc.).

2. Computational Program including Design and Conceptualization of MESC Applications, Hand Calculations, Finite Element Analysis, Simulation Modeling of MESC.

Two candidates with a strong background in one or more areas of computational modeling, composite fabrication, lithium-ion battery, material science, and computer programming are sought. These two positions will be placed at SACL (Aeronautics and Astronautics Department). The students will have access to workstation computers and professional lab facilities. The students will have the opportunity to conduct modeling and experimental work and collaborate with interdisciplinary researchers at SACL.

In addition to the research project, a Mentorship Program is designed to assist students in acquiring and developing academic skills under postdoctoral scholar mentorship. This mentoring program includes In-depth involvement in the research project, Interaction with industries, Training in oral presentations during group meetings, Publication of high-quality articles in journals and conferences, Guidance for career development and future paths.