Student Information
American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics Student Chapter
The AIAA student chapter at USF is a student-led organization focused on advancing aerospace engineering through hands-on technical projects and national competitions. We are building a strong community of students dedicated to solving real-world aerospace challenges and gaining practical experience in aircraft and space system design.
Our current efforts are centered on two major projects: the AIAA Design/Build/Fly (DBF) competition and NASA’s Micro-G NeXT. In DBF, the team is designing and fabricating a custom fixed-wing aircraft capable of completing mission tasks such as autonomous payload deployment and timed ground operations. The project involves subteams focused on propulsion, avionics, airframe design, flight control systems, and telemetry, allowing members to apply engineering fundamentals to a complete flight vehicle.
In the Micro-G NeXT competition, our team is addressing engineering problems directly aligned with NASA’s goals for lunar exploration, deep space communication, and space station operations. We are developing hardware that will be tested in NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab, an underwater facility that simulates microgravity conditions. Participating in this competition means developing real technologies for future space missions!