Education

Faculty members affiliated with the Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment are committed to educating the next generation of research and industry leaders who will advance the sustainability of aviation. Graduates of the lab now work in academia, government and industry in positions where they can make a difference to the relationship between aviation and the environment.

Courses relevant to aviation’s environmental impacts offered by lab-affiliated faculty include:

  • MIT graduate subject 16.715 Transportation and the Environment (new for spring 2013)
    Subject addresses environmental challenges facing transportation in the 21st century, focusing on climate change and air quality. Covers air, sea, road and rail transportation and associated environmental impacts. The fundamentals of combustion and emissions are introduced.  Impacts of transportation emissions on atmospheric composition from local to global scales as relevant to both climate change and human health are considered in-depth. This includes atmospheric dispersion, transport, chemistry, aerosols and radiation. Environmental impact metrics and environmental cost-benefit analysis techniques are discussed and illustrated with policy examples. Finally, alternative transportation fuels are introduced and assessed environmentally.
    Instructor: Prof. S. Barrett 
  • MIT graduate subject 16.72 Air Traffic Control
    Introduces the various aspects of present and future Air Traffic Control systems. Descriptions of the present system: systems-analysis approach to problems of capacity and safety; surveillance, including NAS and ARTS; navigation subsystem technology; aircraft guidance and control; communications; collision avoidance systems; sequencing and spacing in terminal areas; future directions and development; critical discussion of past proposals and of probable future problem areas. Requires term paper.
    Instructor: Prof. H. Balakrishnan
  • MIT graduate subject 16.886J Air Transportation Systems Architecting 
    Addresses the architecting of air transportation systems. Focuses on the conceptual phase of product definition including technical, economic, market, environmental, regulatory, legal, manufacturing, and societal factors. Centers on a realistic system case study and includes a number of lectures from industry and government. Past examples include the Very Large Transport Aircraft, a Supersonic Business Jet and a Next Generation Cargo System. Identifies the critical system level issues and analyzes them in depth via student team projects and individual assignments. Overall goal is to produce a business plan and a system specifications document that can be used to assess candidate systems.
    Instructor: Prof. R. J. Hansman
  • MIT graduate subject 16.511 Aircraft Engines and Gas Turbines
    Covers fundamentals of jet propulsion with a focus on understanding and mitigating environmental impacts. Examines performance and characteristics of aircraft engines as determined by thermodynamic and fluid mechanic behavior of components: inlets, compressors, combustors, turbines, and nozzles. Discusses various engine types and suitability for different missions. Significant attention to environmental issues in engine design, including combustion, emissions, air quality, climate change, and noise. Also covers environmental trade spaces in engine design.
    Instructor: Prof. S. Barrett
  • Harvard-Heidelberg-MIT Geoengineering Summer School (Summer 2013)
    The fourth geoengineering summer school will take place at Harvard University from 5 to 9 August this year. The full Call for Applications will be distributed soon, but please save the date (and start your applications). The fourth geoengineering summer school will take place at Harvard University from 5 to 9 August this year. The full Call for Applications will be distributed soon, but please save the date (and start your applications).The school, which will focus on solar geoengineering, is open to graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and recently appointed faculty and researchers working in any applicable discipline.
    [More information]

Further information is available at the MIT course catalogue.

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