Today, the School of Aerospace Engineering is generally acknowledged to be among the top five leading programs in aerospace engineering in the US, and it was ranked 2nd in undergraduate programs and 5th in graduate programs in the 2008 rankings published by US News and World Report.
The School of Aerospace Engineering was originally established as "The Daniel Guggenheim School of Aeronautics" on March 3, 1930 when the Georgia School of Technology (now, Georgia Institute of Technology) received a $300,000 grant from The Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics, Inc. This was the last and third largest grant made to seven institutions across the United States for the establishment of centers for aeronautical research and instruction. The other six centers were located at the California Institute of Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan, New York University, the Leland Stanford Junior University (now, Stanford University), and the University of Washington.
Of the total amount of the grant, $91,088 was for the cost of the present building, $41,829 was for equipment, apparatus, and general maintenance, and $150,213 was invested in endowment bonds. Prior to the award of the grant, representatives of the Guggenheim Fund, the Georgia School of Technology, the State, the County of Fulton, and the City of Atlanta met, and it was agreed that the State, the County, and the City would each furnish $9,000 per year for the maintenance and operation of the School of Aeronautics. With this assurance that the income would be adequate for the operation and development of the School, the grant was made. After the award was received and the endowment bonds purchased, it was recommended that the income from the endowment which approximated $6,000 per year be devoted to aeronautical research. Thus, from the pledges received, the endowment income, and tuition, it appeared that an annual budget of at least $35,000 could be realized. During these early years, only one-third to one-half of the endowment income was allotted to research. Instead of an annual budget of $35,000 only about one-third of this amount was actually made available. In fact, it was not until 1946 that an annual budget of $35,000 was reached!
The Guggenheim Building was dedicated on June 8, 1931. The first classes were begun in September 1931 with eighteen students, two faculty members, and a budget of $10,000. The undergraduate curriculum was identical with Mechanical Engineering for the first two years with six basic aeronautical courses offered during the Junior and Senior years. The stated policy of the School was to maintain a fundamental engineering background while at the same time giving the students a well-defined aeronautical training. In addition, the research was to be at least equal in importance to the other activities. In general, this policy has been retained over the years.
The Guggenheim Building, which was completed in 1931, has 12,900 square feet of area in use as classrooms, offices, and laboratories. The equipment purchased and installed by the grant included a nine-foot wind tunnel complete with a six-component balance, a 2 1/2 foot instruction wind tunnel complete with a six- component balance, a wood and machine shop for the construction of models, and other special research apparatus. In addition, during the early years a PCA-2 300-HP autogiro was donated for flight research. In 1948 a temporary building having 5000 square feet was erected to house the model shop and to provide additional laboratory space. In 1957, a two-story, 3200 square-foot gas dynamics laboratory was constructed at a cost of approximately $40,000. The model shop building was torn down in 1967 to make way for the Space Sciences and Technology Center Building No. 2 which joined the Guggenheim Building and the gas dynamics laboratory into a new enlarged facility. The new building was dedicated in 1968 as the Montgomery Knight Building.
To better reflect the School's growing and expanding interests and responsibilities beyond the field of aeronautics, its name was officially changed to the School of Aerospace Engineering effective July 1, 1962. This step was consistent with the changes made by other schools throughout the United States.
In the 2007-2008 academic year, the School enrolled more than 700 undergraduates pursuing the Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering degree and over 475 graduate students pursuing Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. The School's annual budget in 2008 was just over $30 million of which more than $22 million was externally sponsored funding for research carried out by faculty, staff and students.
The progress of the School has been led by Montgomery Knight (1930-1943), Donnell Dutton (1943-1963), Arnold Ducoffe (1963-1986), Robin Gray (acting: 1986-1988), Don Giddens (1988-1993), Al Pierce (acting: 1993-1994) and currently Robert G. Loewy is the School Chair.