The Pennsylvania State University Senior Thesis project gives students the opportunity to independently solve issues on real life projects. It serves as the culmination of the topics learned over the five years in the program. An additional area of experience was gained through three summers of internships all gained from the Penn State AE Career fair that occurs each September. This class was very stressful at times, but it helps to teach the students the necessary skills to manage their time and complete work in an effect manner. The fall semester, AE 481, mainly focuses on the project so this allows the students to communicate with the onsite project management team to determine any areas of improvement or problems incurred by the team. The spring semester, AE 482, allows for the student to choose four areas to further analyze that they determine to be areas that pose a potential opportunity for improvement. AE 481 and AE 482 help to prepare students better for the real world and help to instill confidence in being able to complete work on their own.

​