This certificate will provide knowledge and education in the area of computational fluid dynamics. Completing this certificate will enable the student to move up to a position where he or she can develop and use CFD tools effectively in the design process. The program will be offered through Engineering Distance Education and consist of a 12-credit sequence of graduate courses. Six credits will be two 3-credit core courses with the remaining 6 credits selected from an approved list of electives. The courses will consist of recorded lectures delivered using streaming media technology as well as teacher-student interaction via chat room, e-mail, and phone conversations.  

Admission Requirements

The program will be most appropriate for those individuals with a bachelor’s degree in a scientific and engineering discipline, who are pursuing a professional career, and who already have a strong base of engineering skills.

The program will require that admitted students have degrees from an accredited university and have graduated with a GPA that places them in the upper half of their graduating class. Candidates may be considered for admission by the Computational Fluid Dynamics supervisory committee if they do not meet all these requirements but otherwise show clear potential. However, all students must meet the university’s minimum requirements for admission to the graduate college. 

Admission into the certificate program will not guarantee admission into the masters or doctoral programs. If a student who receives a certificate wishes to obtain admission into the masters or doctoral programs, the student will need to apply for admission and gain acceptance by meeting the admission requirements of these programs. Credits earned toward the certificate may be counted for the masters and doctoral degree requirements if approved by the student’s program of study committee. 

Certificate Requirements

Two Core Courses (6 credits)

• AerE/ME 546. Computational Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer I
  Note: In order to resolve a conflict, the following revision to the pre-requisites of this course has been submitted: “AerE 311 and AerE 343, or ME 335, or equivalent”
• AerE/ME 547. Computational Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer II

Two Elective Courses (6 credits) from

• AerE 524. Numerical Mesh Generation
• AerE/ME 532. Compressible Fluid Flow
• ME 536. Advanced Heat Transfer
• ME 538. Advanced Fluid Flow
• AerE 541. Incompressible Flow Aerodynamics
• AerE/ChE 572. Turbulence
• ME/ChE 632. Multiphase Flow
• AerE/ME 646. Computational Methods for Internal and Low Speed Flows
• AerE/ME 647. Advanced High Speed Computational Fluid Dynamics
• ChE 652. Advanced Transport

Contact Information

Z.J. Wang
Professor of Aerospace Engineering
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2249 Howe Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-2271
phone 515-294-1614
fax 515-294-3262