In offering both majors, the department builds on the common interests in both fields related to the design and analysis of vehicles and structures which operate in a fluid. While the earth's atmosphere, its oceans, and the highly rarefied flowfields of space present aircraft, ships, and spacecraft with fluids of very different densities in which they must operate, many of the same basic laws of physics apply to all of them. Aerospace Engineering is in itself a combination of the disciplines of Aeronautical Engineering and Astronautical Engineering and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech emphasizes the older fields of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.

The department's undergraduate programs of study emphasize aero/hydrodynamics; vehicle structures; vehicle performance, stability & control, propulsion, with instructional material leading to a year-long capstone design experience in the senior year. Design project assignments are developed by industry and government experts as part of international design competitions in which teams of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering students have won numerous awards for their aircraft, spacecraft, and ship designs.

Graduates of the department's two bachelor of science degree programs have been highly successful in the aerospace and ocean fields. About 25% of our graduates continue their studies in graduate school while most of the rest find excellent employment opportunities in the aerospace and related industries and in the shipbuilding, naval engineering and ship design fields. Some also choose to go into related fields such as automotive engineering, structural engineering, environmental engineering, as well as into professions such as law or medicine. The department's long history and reputation for excellence in its graduates have ensured that Aerospace and Ocean Engineering graduates are recruited by industry even in difficult economic times.