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Mark Sirangelo, Entrepreneur-Scholar-in-Residence, is offering all Smead Aerospace students an opportunity to advance their careers in the aerospace field.

Working with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Mark is providing all currently enrolled CU Smead Aerospace students, undergraduate and graduate, with a free year of new membership in the student chapter of AIAA. If you are already a member, you can receive an extension of your membership for a year

Current aerospace students should have received an email on June 21 with the subject line "Free year of AIAA membership from Smead Aerospace" that has details on how to take advantage of this opportunity. If you did not, contact us for more information.

We spoke with Mark about his donation and the benefits offered by AIAA :

Why should students join AIAA?

I believe that, beyond the national level aerospace and engineering education that is available at CU Boulder, it is really important for a student to begin to build a wide and strong foundation in the industry.Ìý AIAA is an organization that is primarily focused on developing the individual more than the organization.Ìý

The experiences you can receive through being part of AIAA will not only make you better qualified for your future job but will also help you build connections that can last throughout your career.

There are many special parts of the student sector of AIAA including an active mentorship program, an expansive career center and active engagement programs and events where you can meet peers through the world.Ìý

There are also competitions that you can join or individually or as a team to work on simulated real-world problems.Ìý These competitions allow you to gain valuable actual experience while receiving constructive feedback and advice from experts all of which can bolster your knowledge and resume.

You’re putting up your own money up to encourage students to join. Why?

The aerospace industry has provided me with some of the most amazing, memorable and life changing memories and moments.Ìý It is still unbelievable to me, but I and my teams have been involved in hundreds of aerospace and space programs including missions to seven planets, the moon and the sun.Ìý I would have never imagined this to be possible when I was a student.Ìý

This has been a really challenging and tough two years for all of us, but particularly for our students.Ìý I wanted to find a way to pay what I have had the chance to experience forward while saying thanks to all those who participated in my lectures over the past three years.Ìý Ìý

Opening the door for everyone to AIAA and the future it creates is a small way for me to do my part to help bring us back to a place where we are looking forward positively again.Ìý

Faculty often speak highly of AIAA membership. How has being a member helped you?

Aerospace and space are sectors that is fundamentally built on being part of a team.Ìý Almost all successful programs are built on substantial collaboration, people’s past experience and preexisting science or technology.Ìý My time with AIAA has made me a better technologist and leader.Ìý

Building new and lasting personal relationships which have originated at the many AIAA meetings and sessions that I have attended, has allowed me to create strong industry level networks.Ìý It has also facilitated my being able to hire really talented people while helping me understand that I was not alone in facing the challenges that I was facing.Ìý

AIAA has also opened up access to invaluable research data and allowed me to have a voice in shaping the rules of engagement that we all operate under in aerospace.ÌýÌý Sometime, and often most importantly, it just creates a place to have fun and realize how great it is to be part of such an amazing industry.