Summer Research Program to Motivate Undergraduates for Careers in Unmanned Aerial Systems

The use of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) has been increasing rapidly for widespread applications including for precision agriculture, search and rescue, infrastructure monitoring, and powerline inspection. Because of their cheaper cost, UASs can also be used as the entry point for many advanced concepts in aerospace engineering. However, academia and industry have not seen proportionate increase in the number of students pursuing studies for advanced degrees or entering the workforce in the area of UAS technologies. This paper talks about the summer research program at Cal Poly Pomona that is designed to motivate students to advanced degrees and/or career path in UAS technologies. Students from Community Colleges and High Schools are also involved in the program. The students have been supported by funding from NSF, NASA, Department of Education, and industry. The Program exposes the students to many aspects of research including literature review, designing and conducting flight test experiments, data collection, data processing, algorithm development, and implementation. The students get opportunities to learn other disciplines including Computer Science and Electrical & Electronics Engineering that are important for the successful research in UAS technologies. The students involved in the program have shown increased interest in advanced degrees in the area of UAS technologies including for PhD degrees. Many of the graduates have joined the companies involved in the unmanned aerial systems. More than 50% of the Community College Students who were involved in the Program transferred to Cal Poly Pomona and continued their interest in unmanned aerial systems.