The Aerospace Center is a cutting-edge research center within UTEP’s College of Engineering. The center is focused on two missions: becoming a key focal of point of American aerospace engineering and training UTEP engineering students to become the dynamic, skilled workforce this rapidly growing field will require. “The students are what the Aerospace Center and UTEP are all about,” said Ahsan Choudhuri, Ph.D.—associate vice president and founding director of the Aerospace Center. “We are an R1 university but with a singular focus on student success. The students will take it to another level. Our program is in good hands.”

The Aerospace Center was founded in 2009 as the Center for Space Exploration Technology Research. The Aerospace Center has grown from its beginnings as a 3,000 square foot lab employing 30 students as research assistants. The Center now covers 35,000 square feet of laboratory space and 8,000 acres of test facilities and employs 200 students. But even more growth is coming. In the summer of 2022, the Aerospace Center led a coalition that received a $40 million Build Back Better Regional Challenge Grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. The coalition will use the grant to spark an aerospace manufacturing industry in West Texas, creating economic opportunity for Aerospace Center students and the region.

Grow with us. In partnership with industry partners like NASA, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy, this premier, minority-serving research center is transforming the way the industry designs, builds, and tests products. The Aerospace Center is tackling the toughest challenges in space, aeronautics and defense, and energy, all while giving UTEP engineering students hands-on, professional experience working in these labs.

After years of adding exceptional minority engineers to the national labor force, the Aerospace Center is adding a new challenge to its portfolio: fostering the growth of El Paso’s aerospace and defense industry so that UTEP graduates can find exciting, well-paid work in their chosen field right here.