Pratham - What I love about studying aerospace engineering at Herts
Hello everyone, my name is Pratham Dharu and I'm a second year BEng Aerospace Engineering with Space Technology student at Herts 👋
I am someone who always dreamt about space and how rockets used to work and how humans went to space. I am personally an admirer of the Apollo missions, especially the Apollo 11 mission. So, I decided to pursue a career in space technology and decided to fly 7000 km to live my dream of studying rocket science 🚀
I chose Herts as a medium to live my dream because of the amazing aerospace research and sports that the University offers. So, let’s talk about my experience so far and why I love studying at Herts...
My first semester was partially re-capping my 12th grade physics and maths content and partially learning new topics such as project management, CAD design and aerospace industry. This got me off to a great start!
As I went into semester B of the first year, we studied electronics and programming which was helpful for the CDIO (Conceive, Develop, Implement, Operate) module of Robotics and is also helping me this year in the Thermodynamics and Aerodynamics modules. The faculty at Herts knows the software that is currently being used in the industry and includes it in our curriculum: Solid is a popular CAD (Computer Aided Design) software used for 3D modelling and is a great option for students to use but is not popular in the aerospace industry. CATIA V5 is the major software used for CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) in the aerospace industry. The best part is that I haven’t needed to buy any of the software as everything is available in the University library/computer lab for students to download 😀
Let’s now talk about my current semester!
From the second year, things do start to get a little tough and you must put in the self-study and work. The faculty members, technical officers and the SPECS Academic Support Hub (SASH) staff are always there to help you with any kind of academic help you might require such as citations and academic writing. There is also a team of senior faculty members at the Academic Math Support Hub who are always welcoming and encouraging students who wish to learn higher level concepts that might help them with personal research or in final year projects.
The first semester modules include specific aerospace modules such as Thermodynamics, Materials and Aerodynamics. If you still have extra time, you can volunteer to be a SPECS student representative or join multiple academic clubs at SPECS; you can choose from 40 different clubs and activities so there is something for everyone! I am currently a member of the Drone club, and UP research. A club that aerospace students like to join is the UH Racing club, helping with aerodynamic analysis of the Formula student cars developed by UH Racing club.
But if I had to choose between all the facilities and resource available at SPECS, I would choose the teaching and faculty members who understand students as well as the industry and help with one-on-one drop-in sessions to understand the problems we students face on a personal basis and try to resolve them.
So that was a summary of my journey of studying aerospace engineering at Herts. Hope to see you guys at SPECS soon 😊