ULM has a long and proud history in Aviation. In 1939, ULM (then Northeast Junior College) became one of 404 colleges to participate in the Civilian Pilot Training Program to train pilots for World War II. In 1967, Northeast offered the first four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Aviation. The program has traditionally followed a path of continuous improvement and innovation, and the current program maintains that tradition.
ULM’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Management program is innovative and provides students with an analytical foundation to interpret data collected from the use of sUAS. The program also continues to provide a solid foundation in business and aviation, creating a unique program and a variety of career opportunities for students.
The overall goal of the program is to prepare individuals to become competent, ethical, safety conscious aviation professionals, ready to assume leadership roles in various aviation management careers, including use of UASs. The focus on Unmanned Aircraft Systems is offered to those students whose career objectives are aimed at the emerging unmanned aircraft systems industry. The program provides the breadth and depth of instruction needed to ensure graduates are prepared to work as pilots/operators and/or developmental team members of unmanned aircraft systems while fully understanding the operational and safety environments of the National Airspace System.
For information on free drone workshops offered to middle and high school students, click here.
Making sure your program is the right financial investment is an important part of the search process.
COST & FINANCINGULM has been operating “drones” since 2013 when selected universities such as ours were allowed to do so via the U.S. State Department. While a focus on Agricultural data acquisition is our primary focus, we also provide experience with Industrial Inspection, Cinematography, Remote Sensing, Photogrammetric, Aerial Mapping, Surveying, Law Enforcement, Natural Disasters, and much more.
We are contacted on a regular basis by alumni willing to donate to, and support our program through monetary sources, equipment donations, land use, and much more.
Our program consists of esteemed faculty that possess many combined years of experience within the field of aviation. This includes both military and general aviation experience with a multitude of diverse operations. In addition to being FAA certificated Remote Pilot – Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems pilots/operators, our faculty members also possess fixed-wing certificates and ratings with thousands of hours of flying experience.
Internships in many diverse areas within our major are constantly available from a multitude of sources. We sometimes have problems filling these internship programs due to the volume of industry requests.
Job placement is available through our many contacts within the aviation industry. Due to the shortage of qualified personnel within the aviation industry as a whole, this is rarely a problem.
Our UAS-drone fleet size is impressive, with both fixed-wing, quadcopter, octocopter, and VTOL aircraft. Camera’s, sensors, software programs, processing computers, and much more are always the latest updated models of their kind such as high-resolution color, multi-spectral imaging, hyper-spectral imaging, and LIDAR.
Here are a few of the top careers in this field:
Of the 120 academic hours required of a Baccalaureate Degree within the major, we offer 45 hours of aviation courses. Most degree plans require 30. You will receive a well-rounded source of UAS/Aviation classes with this degree.
Being housed in the College of Business and Social Sciences we encourage our students to minor in a business related discipline although this is not a requirement. We currently do not offer an online option in UAS Management.
List of programs/Activities: ULM’s Precision Agriculture and UAS Research Center is housed on the ULM campus for field work and student use as needed. Students may check out our “drones” for use if they possess the proper credentials and complete a mandatory checkout sheet.
Guest speakers from the aviation industry are often brought in to give the student a real-world perspective of their chosen work.
The Warhawk Flight Team is open to any student interested in aviation, regardless of major. Qualifications for membership are the same as those for Alpha Eta Rho. Meetings are held weekly in conjunction with Alpha Eta Rho meetings. However, students do not have to be members of both Alpha Eta Rho and the Flight Team.
Members of the Flight Team train throughout the year to represent ULM at the annual National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) Regional Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON). Students are chosen to attend SAFECON, which includes flying and ground events, based on their scores on practice tests and events similar to those held at SAFECON.
For more information, contact Mr. David King, faculty advisor.
Learn more about financial aid options: https://www.ulm.edu/financialaid/
Learn more about scholarship opportunities: https://www.ulm.edu/scholarships/
The University of Louisiana Monroe
700 University Avenue
Monroe, LA 71209
318.342.1000
