Aviation and Technology News Items

If you have an item you would like posted on this web page, please send an email to sbates@sjsu.edu -
we love to support your activities in the Department!  Last update:  08/14/2008

to ALL students:  You should see your advisor to have your advising hold removed before the end of each semester, PRIOR to opening of enrollment for the next semester.  If you have a probation hold, you will also need to attend a College of Engineering Academic Success Workshop. See http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/advising/workshop_reg.php for more details

August, 2008

  • Dr. Seth Bates has been appointed Department Chair effective August 11th.  Dr. Bates will work with the faculty to continue to develop and improve our programs and services.

  • Dr. Ali Zargar has agreed to serve as the Department Graduate Advisor, and will provide guidance to students and prospective students for the MSQA and the QA Certificate Program.

May, 2008

  • Voting for the position of Department Chair concluded this month.  We are waiting for the Dean to appoint our new chair for the Fall of 2008.  The normal term of a department chair is four years.

  • The Mission College transfer program has been approved and will be offered starting in the 2008-2009 academic year.  Part of the proposal is a change in name of the Electronics and Computer Technology program to Computer Networking Technology (CNT).  Final changes at SJSU to match the curriculum at Mission College and complete articulation approvals will take place in August/September of 2008. 

Fall, 2007

  • The major change that has occurred this semester is that Dr. Patricia Backer has been appointed Director of General Engineering and is now working in the office of the Dean, College of Engineering. 

  • In her place, Dr. Ali Zargar has agreed to serve as Acting Chair until an election will take place in the Spring of 2008.

  • Drs. Julio Garcia, Samuel Obi, James Yu, and Seth Bates are working with the faculty of the technology programs at Mission College to develop an innovative and completely transparent transfer program for students who wish to start at Mission College and finish their degrees in Industrial Technology at SJSU.  This program is expected to begin in the Fall of 2008.

4/30/07 - 10/29/07

  • Ballots have been counted for the student representative to the Aviation Advisory Board.  We are pleased to announce that Matt Neff was selected. On behalf of the faculty, I want to thank Matt and our other candidate, Carolyn Otto, for volunteering for this position.

  • We still have an opening for the student representative to the Technology Advisory Board. If you are interested, please email Dr. Ali Zargar or the webmaster.

  • The departmental ceremony and celebration is usually scheduled for late May, after graduation ceremonies.  All graduates, current students, family and guests are welcome to this annual event and BBQ.  Alpha Eta Rho usually hosts the BBQ for the department.  Contact the department secretary in mid-Spring for information on this event.

3/15/07

  • There are two scholarship opportunities from AAAE. If you wish to apply, you need to submit your entire application package to the department by May 1, 2007 at 4:00 pm. According to the instructions, the department can only submit one student. If you have any questions, please contact me. If you are interested in these scholarships, please click on the links.
    • Scholarship for Native American aviation students, please click here.
    • Scholarship for students in aviation/airport management programs, please click here.
  • The Spring 2007 Vincent E. Morine scholarship materials are now available. Please note that the deadline for applying is 4:00 pm on 4-12-07. Your scholarship application must be submitted to the department office (IS 111).

 2/12/07

Here are some announcements for the beginning of the semester

  • The department is soliciting nominations for student representatives to the SJSU Aviation Advisory Board AND the SJSU Technology Advisory Board.  Each year, the students elect a representative who serves for two semesters. Therefore, I am asking for nominations from students. The student elected would serve for the Spring 2007 and Fall 2007 terms. If you are interested, please email me with your name and a 100-word statement. If you would like to nominate someone else, please do so. I will contact your nominee to verify that she/he is willing to serve. All nominations are due Friday, March 2, 2007 by 4:00 pm so that we can conduct the voting in March. If you have any questions, please let me know.

  • Former Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta is speaking on campus this Thursday (2/15/07) from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm in Eng 189.

  • Below are the list of department scholarship winners for Fall 2006. If you see any of these students, please congratulate them.

    Scholarship winners

     

     

    Last Name

    First Name

     Scholarship

    Belmonte

    Gabriel

    NEWHOUSE

    Imamura

    Derek

    NEWHOUSE

    Spahn

    Renee

    NEWHOUSE

    Udeoji

    Vitalis

    Industrial Arts

    Modrzejowski

    Tomasz

    DOT

    Carreira

    Donald

    Bauer

    Koenig

    Jennifer

    Lane

    Otto

    Carolyn

    Scherer

    Neff

    Matt

    Jeppesen

    Singh

    Monica

    Jeppesen

    Ozoa

    David

    Fowler

    Yilma

    Wossen

    Price

    Raffanti

    Andrew

    Leonard

 

  • The AAAE Foundation will grant $1,000 each year to a number of students with a junior class standing or higher, who are enrolled in an aviation program and have a grade point average 3.0 or higher. Scholarship information is usually mailed to universities and colleges in mid- February. I will send you an email when we receive the scholarship materials.
  • We just received another scholarship opportunity from the Southern California Aeronautic Association. For more details, go to http://www.aeroclubsocal.org/aeroclub_about.html#scholarships
  • Please save the date of Wednesday 2/28/07 at 7:00 pm. The department and the SJSU AS student government will be hosting a talk by Woody Spears, an original Tuskegee Airman. As we work out the details on this event, we will email you again.

    1/30/07

    We have uploaded the Spring 2006 graduation pictures to the department web site. To view these pictures, click here.

    4/17/2005

    Spring 2006

    I am happy to announce a new scholarship that is available for students majoring in aviation. In order to provide resources for the advancement of the educational mission of the San José State University, August Scherer through his estate provided for the establishment of a scholarship fund for students in what was then known as the Department of Aeronautics.

    To implement the phase-in, awards in the first year of the scholarship would be as follows:

    $2,000 to an incoming freshman, renewable for three additional years

    $2,000 to a student transferring into the Aviation Program, non-renewable.

             *$2,000 to a second year student, renewable for two additional years

    *$2,000 to a third year student, renewable for one additional year.

    *$2,000 to a fourth year student, non-renewable.

    Applications can be downloaded below

    • Application for current students in the BS Aviation program, click here

    • Application for New Fall 2006 freshmen, click here

    • Application for New Aviation Transfer students, click here

    9/12005

    Fall 2005 Announcements

    1. Our new faculty member in Aviation, Dr. Triant Flouris, will be starting in Spring 2006. Therefore, the Provost has asked Emeritus Professor and former chair of Aerospace Engineering Dr. Dick Desautel to assist in Aviation this semester. Dr. Desautel will serve as the Director of Aviation for this semester and will have office hours at Aviation (probably on Tuesdays). He will also usually be at the Aviation building on Monday mornings. His office schedule will be posted on our web site. Dr. Desautel responsibilities include the academic activities of advising, scheduling, and program planning. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Desautel.
    2. Advising. Dr. Desautel will be advising the students in the Fall 2003 Operations option and the pre-Fall 2003 flight operations option. Dr. Wei will be advising students in the Fall 2003 Aviation Management option and the pre-Fall 2003 Administration and Professor Huang will be advising all Maintenance, Maintenance Management, and Avionics students. The entire advising list will be posted on out web site next week. As usual, you can always see me for your advising if you prefer. My office hour schedule is posted on my web site at www.engr.sjsu.edu/pabacker.
    3. ADD/DROP. SJSU has changed the add/drop period. You have less time to add and drop a class. Tuesday, September 6 is the last day to drop or withdraw without a "W" grade. Tuesday, September 13 is the last day to add courses. I will not sign any late-add forms for students who forgot to enroll on time.
    4. STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS. I am happy to announce that Jeppesen has again provided two $2500 scholarships to our department this year. In addition, the department has several other scholarships that are available. This year, the department will accept applications for its departmental scholarships in the Fall only. You will be getting an email from me in the next few weeks with the application package. I urge you to submit your application materials for these scholarships.
    5. The Mineta San Jose Airport is hosting a pavilion at the Guadalupe River Park & Gardens grand opening celebration on Saturday, September 10, 2005 from 10 am to 4:00 pm. In the airport pavilion, they have reserved a table for the department where we can provide information to students and talk about the program. If you are interested in participating in this event, you should contact Dr. Desautel.
    6. The department has added a new section of Tech 190 (Senior Seminar). It meets on Wednesday nights from 6:00 pm to 7:45 pm in IS 132. You must be a senior to take this class. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Obi
    7. I have added Tech 235 to the schedule for this Fall and it is now available for student registration. Tech 235 will be meeting on Monday nights from 6:00 pm to 8:45 pm in IS 132. The class number is 49139. You can now enroll in the class. The first class meeting will be next Monday (8/29/05) and Dr. Brian Lee will be the instructor for this class. You do not need a permission number to add this class.
    8. Dr. Zargar and I will be having a mandatory orientation/advising session for all MSQA students during September. We will be sending you a separate email soon letting you know the day and time.

    3/1/2005

    Aviation Advisory Board

    The aviation advisory board held its Spring 2005 meeting on Thursday, February 24, 2005 in AB 108 (the aviation conference room). The minutes for the advisory board will be posted here as they are available. Please click on the link below to view a list of the members of the advisory board.

    2/3/2005

    Announcement 1

    Dr. Tim Brady, the Dean of the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, is coming to SJSU February 8th through 10th to assess the aviation program at SJSU. The student meeting is Thursday, 2/10/2005 from 12:00 to 1:00 pm in the   Aviation classroom (AB 107).

    Currently, Dr. Brady is serving as the President of the Council on Aviation Accreditation and is the past-President of the University Aviation Association. Dr. Brady has extensive expertise in aviation education and we are pleased he is able to serve as a consultant to SJSU.

    If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Backer at 4-3190 or by email at pabacker@email.sjsu.edu

    Announcement 2

    We have counted the ballots for the two alumni representatives to the SJSU Aviation Advisory Board. I am happy to announce that the two alumni elected are Robert Marcott and Sandra Clifford. Each of them will serve a two-year term and we will hold a new election for the alumni representatives in Fall 2006.

    12/14/2004

    Two late news items for Fall

    • The students of the aviation program have elected Andrew Fuller as the student representative to the Aviation Advisory Board.

    • We are currently sending out the ballots for the alumni representatives to the advisory board. If you are an alumnus of the aviation program, you should be receiving a ballot in late December.

    Fall 2004

    There are two scholarships available for aviation majors for Fall 2004, the Thomas E. Leonard Scholarship and Jeppesen Scholarship. If you are interested in these scholarships, please complete the application below by October 15, 2004. The application should either be emailed to Dr. Backer at pabacker@email.sjsu.edu or dropped off in the Aviation (AB 105) or Technology (IS 111) office by 4:00 pm on 10/15/2004.

     Link to Fall 2004 Aviation Scholarship Application

     

    The faculty in the department are working on improving the following areas in Fall 2004. Please check back here for more updates.

    (1) Communication. The department's website will include a new section on aviation news.

    (2) Teaching Evaluation. SJSU has a new policy on SOTES and SOLATES. Normally, every class taught for credit granted by SJSU shall be evaluated using the SOTE instrument. To read the new SJSU policy, you can visit the Academic Senate website at http://www2.sjsu.edu/senate/S03-3.pdf

    (3) Part-time faculty. The department is going to post the profiles and resumes of all part-time faculty in AVTECH on department web site.

    (4) Advising. With the retirement of four professors (two in aviation and two in technology), the advising list has been changed. Except for Avionics students, all other Aviation students will be advised by aviation professors. Of course, any student can see Dr. Backer for advising either by email or during her office hours.

    (5) Advisory Board. The department faculty has approved a new structure for the aviation and technology advisory boards. The membership for each advisor board will consist of 8-14 industry representatives, two alumni, and one student representative. The nominations for aviation alumni representatives would be included in the Fall 2004 alumni newsletter. The student election will be announced in emails to all students (one email for Tech and one email for Aviation students).

    (6) Facilities Plan for Aviation. In anticipation of the aviation program's integration with the main campus, four specialty aviation labs have been planned: Airframe Lab (IS 130), Flight Simulator Lab (IS216ABC), Engines Lab (Engr 123), and Avionics Lab (IS 116).  Aviation students will use the digital and analog electronics laboratories (IS 133, IS 240, IS 117) in the Department in addition to its own avionics laboratory in IS 116 adjacent to the new electronics lab (IS 117).  Furthermore, the aviation students will use the machine shop (IS 124), the wood lab (IS 122), as well as the wind tunnels and engine test cell in the Aerospace Engineering program. The department is in the process of working on preliminary plans for this facilities move and plans to discuss this move with the aviation advisory board. The on-campus labs and their final locations might change after the final plan is developed.

    (7) Departmental Committees. The faculty have elected the following faculty to serve on the departmental committees for AY 04-05.  The faculty decided not to establish a recruitment committee until the new aviation positions were approved. This committee would then be established.

    RTP Committee. Motion: Ali Zargar, Sam Obi, Mohan Kim, Seth Bates, Julio Garcia.  

    Student Scholarship Committee. Scott Yelich, Sam Huang, Wenbin Wei,  Julio Garcia, Sam Obi.

    Graduate Committee. Wenbin Wei,  Ali Zargar, Mohan Kim, Pat Backer, Alan Samai

     
    Fall 2003

    The new BS in Aviation curriculum and the new BS in Industrial Technology curriculum came online in Fall 2003. The new aviation curriculum follows the guidelines of Council of Aviation Accreditation and was put in place in Fall 2003.  The program is scheduled for accreditation in Fall 2007. The Department offers four different options under the BS in Aviation: Avionics, Aviation Management, Operations, and Maintenance Management. Under the BS in Industrial Technology, there are two concentrations, Manufacturing Systems and Electronics & Computer Technology. For more details on the new curriculum, choose the links below.

    There are four different options under the BS in Aviation. Click on the links below to see the description for each option.

    For more details about each of the two concentrations in the BS in Industrial Technology, please click on the links below.

    Click here for Fall 2003 graduation pictures

    Fall 2002

    The Department of Aviation & Technology sponsored a memorial program on September 11th to honor one of our graduates, Captain Jason Dahl. Several graduates and friends of Jason Dahl donated a plaque in his honor at the Aviation building. 

    We have several pictures of this event on our web site. Click on the picture link to view these pictures. Picture link to Jason Dahl memorial event.

    If you would like to donate to a fund in Jason Dahl's name, please visit the SJSU donation site. The Department of Aviation and Technology has been added to the drop down menu of the online giving web page for SJSU: http://prodpub.wavesys.com/cw/donationsPage.asp?charity=sjsu

This page is managed by Ms. Supriya Gurjar and Dr. Seth Bates at the Department of Aviation and Technology.
They can be reached at sbates@sjsu.edu or by phone at 408 924-3227.
For more information, please contact the Aviation and Technology Department office at 408-924-3190.