Aerospace Capstone Design I is the first half of the two-term senior design sequence — the course in which everything in the degree gets used at once, on a real problem, in a team. The statewide description is unusually specific: students are formed into teams, given a design topic, and tasked with creating a design solution, with the deliverable a full report containing a design description, engineering specifications and drawings, and with explicit discussion of the engineering code of ethics and of sustainability, ethics in the workplace, testing and data management.
Carried by two Florida public institutions — USF and Florida Polytechnic — both at 3 credits, and at both the sequence continues into EAS4951.
⚠ This course is assessed differently from every other course in the degree. There is no problem set with an answer at the back; there is a design, a report, a presentation and a team, and the grade depends substantially on things that are not technical.
Named on the Aerospace Engineer career path, and it is the single most useful course on an entry-level résumé. A capstone project is the thing interviewers ask about: it is the only evidence most graduates have of working in a team, to a requirement, under a schedule. ⚠ Choose the project with the job in mind — a launch-vehicle project reads very differently to a Space Coast employer than a generic one, and a sponsored project comes with a named industry contact.
The state records the gate as EML4703 and EAS4101 and EAS4251, all with a minimum grade of C−. Against the carriers:
| Named course | USF | Florida Polytechnic |
|---|---|---|
EML4703 Mechanics of Compressible Fluids | carries it | ⚠ does not |
EAS4101 Aerodynamics | carries it | carries it |
EAS4251 Structural Vibration | carries it | ⚠ does not |
⚠⚠ USF carries all three and Florida Polytechnic carries one, which is the signature of a statewide prerequisite contributed by a single carrier. It is a known defect shape, not a claim that Florida Polytechnic’s students are under-prepared: that university gates its capstone on its own sequence. Read the gate from your own catalogue.
Numbers ending 950 are normally special-topics shells, and this repository skips them for that reason. This one is an exception and the evidence is clear: both carriers give it a specific, matching title, the statewide description names concrete deliverables, and EAS4951 exists as its second half at the same two institutions. It is a capstone sequence that happens to sit on a shell number. ⚠ The statewide record still classifies its course intent as variable, which is a leftover of the number family rather than a description of the course.
Capstone projects are frequently sponsored by industry, and aerospace sponsors are frequently ITAR-controlled. An international student may be ineligible for particular projects, and that is discovered at team formation in the first week, not at the point of choosing. ⚠ Ask before the term which projects carry export-control restrictions — there are almost always unrestricted projects, and knowing early means choosing rather than being assigned.
This course does little on its own: the design produced here is built, tested and reported in EAS4951. ⚠ A schedule that puts the two halves anywhere other than consecutive terms will not work, because the team disperses. Confirm both are offered in the terms you plan, and treat a graduation date as depending on the pair.
Much aerospace work is subject to ITAR and EAR export control, which in practice restricts many roles — and some laboratory and project work — to U.S. persons, and a great deal of defence work additionally requires a security clearance that takes months to obtain. This is not a course requirement, but it is a career requirement, and it is better understood in the second year than after an offer.
A Professional Engineer licence is uncommon in aerospace — most of the work falls under the industrial exemption, and employers hire on degree, project record and clearance. ⚠ It is still worth sitting the FE examination in your final year: it is inexpensive then and expensive to recreate later, and it keeps open a move into consulting or civil-adjacent work. Under s. 471.013(1)(a), Florida Statutes, an approved engineering curriculum needs four years of experience toward the PE and an approved engineering technology curriculum six.
Generated September 18, 2026 · Updated September 18, 2026