Southeast plans to offer a degree in drones

Southeast Missouri State University wants to become a school for drones.

The university's Board of Regents has approved plans for a new bachelor of science in unmanned aircraft systems. If approved by the Missouri Coordinating Board of Education in June, school officials expect to begin offering the new major to students in the 2017 fall semester.

University officials said they expect the program to be popular with students.

"I get very excited about this," said Jay Knudtson, president of the board. "We look forward to this rolling out,"

School president Carlos Vargas-Aburto said Southeast would be the first four-year college in the state to offer a major in drone systems.

Some universities in Missouri use drones in various education programs, but none of them has academic programs related to the use and operation of drone systems, Southeast officials said.

The University of Missouri-Columbia has a course and training program that primarily focuses on drone journalism. Several schools, including University of Missouri-Columbia, St. Louis University and Missouri University of Science and Technology, have research programs using or developing drone technology.

Vargas predicted graduates of the program would be increasingly in demand as the commercial use of drones grows.

"We are developing a program that will be of direct impact to industry," he said, adding it will tie in with the university's academic program in cybersecurity.

Southeast is moving ahead with plans for the program, but acknowledged this is a new field of study that will require the university to make changes as the drone industry and technology grows.

"In some ways, we need to ride the bicycle as we build it," Vargas said.

School officials estimated Southeast will spend $97,600 annually on the program by its fourth year. The largest expense would be $80,000 to pay for a new faculty member who likely would have a doctorate in engineering and a pilot's license, they wrote in a report to the board.

University officials said tuition and other student fees for the program would generate an estimated $258,000.

Southeast officials believe the field of aerospace engineering technology will expand rapidly because of commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems for law enforcement, agriculture, videography and photography, surveying and inspections, and delivery.

Students would be trained on the fundamentals of drones including maintenance, electrical and mechanical control systems and use. The program won't train students to design a drone from the ground up. Instead, students would learn how to adapt existing products and resources to meet a specific need, university officials said.

As part of the major, students also would take drone-specific courses in flight, unmanned aircraft design, sensing systems, mission planning, regulations and safety.

Southeast officials expect the program to grow slowly, from about 12 full- and part-time students for the first year of the program to about 48 students by the fifth year.

In a document to the regents, school officials said they expect 75 percent of graduates in the drone program to find jobs in the field or related fields if Federal Aviation Administration regulations allow for more widespread and commercial use of drones.

School officials added they expect job placement to grow to about 90 percent as the industry develops.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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