UT San Antonio expands aerospace engineering work with Ph.D.

• Texas A&M, UT Austin and UT Arlington are the others.

The big picture: San Antonio already has hubs for advanced manufacturing and aerospace. Texas has also grown its role in space exploration.

Zoom out: Nationally, employment for aerospace engineers is expected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's much faster than the average growth rate of 3% for all occupations.

• Median pay for the job is nearly $135,000 per year.

What they're saying: "Students are currently earning mechanical engineering degrees while conducting aerospace research," Chris Combs, a distinguished engineering professor and associate dean of research at UT San Antonio, said in a statement. "Conferring PhDs allows us to put the proper name to the work and level of research already taking place."

Flashback: The university offered its first master's-level class in aerospace engineering in 2022.

Zoom in: UT San Antonio is one of about five U.S. universities with a hypersonic wind tunnel — which allows air speed to exceed the speed of sound — used in aerospace engineering research.