The primary mission of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) student chapter at the University of Kentucky - Paducah Campus is to support students interested in aerospace careers through educational opportunities and connection to industry professionals.
Each year the students participate in the AIAA Design/Build/Fly in which they design, fabricate, and demonstrate the flight capabilities of an unmanned, electric powered, radio-controlled aircraft which can best meet the specified mission profile for that year. The goal is a balanced design possessing stable demonstrated flight handling qualities and practical and affordable manufacturing requirements while providing a high vehicle performance.
The 2025 DBF missions tasked students with developing an airplane to carry and release a secondary autonomous flight vehicle, also developed by the students, along with auxiliary fuel tanks, drawing 112 teams from around the world representing universities from 6 continents, 18 countries, and 35 US states. The Paducah team successfully completed all flight missions laid out in the competition rules and placed 24th overall.
ASME members have attended leadership seminars and professional development conferences, competed in contests and received prestigious awards. The Paducah chapter hosted the 2002 Regional Student Leadership seminar for ASME Region VI.
The UK Paducah student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers gives students an opportunity to interact with students and practicing engineers from around the country, serve their community and learn more about their chosen profession. Activities are scheduled throughout the academic year. In 2003, the chapter won the national Chem-E Car design competition in Indianapolis. Students have attended conferences at places ranging from San Francisco to San Juan.
The UK Paducah student chapter has been named an AIChE Outstanding Chapter each year since receiving its charter in 2001. Other chapter activities include outreach to area schools and Girl Scout troops, social activities and service to the engineering program.
Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) is a non-profit network committed to building a better world. Established in 2002, ESW consists of students, university faculty and professionals who are dedicated to building a more sustainable world for current and future generations. This involves not only direct projects on campuses, in communities and internationally, but also educating our communities and ourselves about sustainability as a broad topic.
In January of 2011, the Kentucky Energy Club (KYEC) was created as the product of a grant by the U.S. Department of Energy. Advised by employees of the Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER), KYEC started its first chapter at the University of Kentucky in hopes of modeling the club at MIT. With the initiative of several students, the UK Chapter began that spring semester by hosting an Energy 101 lecture series on campus. As word traveled, students and faculty across the university gained interest and insight in energy issues, especially since Kentucky has historically been a large producer of coal-fire generated power.
Baja SAE is an international collegiate design competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Engineering students are tasked to design and build an off-road vehicle that will survive the severe punishment of rough terrain. For the past several years, the SAE team in Paducah have raced their Big Blue Baja at major events.
Baja West Competition – Hosted by University of Wisconsin Baja East World Challenge Competition – Hosted by University of Rochester Baja South World Challenge Competition – Hosted by Auburn University Baja Kansas Competition – Hosted by Pittsburg State University
In each of the competitions, students competed with over a hundred teams from around the world. In 2008, two SAE team members presented their work on “Finite Element Analysis of Baja Vehicle Frames” in the ASEE-SE conference in Memphis, TN and won 1st place in Undergraduate Research. In 2009, two SAE members presented their work on “Experimental and Finite Element Simulations of Engine Covers” in the ASEE-SE conference in Atlanta, GA and won the 3rd place award in Undergraduate Research. Past SAE chapter president, Kyle Ramey, won the prestigious SAE Student Leadership Development in 2007.
Learn more about Baja SAE.
The UK-Paducah Society of Women Engineers (SWE) student section was chartered in August of 2001. The section provides a support structure for women in the engineering program and receives unprecedented support from engineering professional women in the area. One of SWE's top priorities is outreach aimed at making K-12 female students more aware of engineering as a career choice. SWE recently developed an aggressive outreach program that involves visiting local schools to talk about engineering and providing the students with hands-on demonstrations of engineering phenomena. The section also sponsors events during the annual UK-Paducah Engineering Day in the Spring.
Tau Beta Pi is the honor society for all engineering disciplines. Eligibility is limited to the top 20% of the student class. Membership in Tau Beta Pi is recognized universally for outstanding academic achievement and high integrity. Paducah students are members of the Kentucky Alpha chapter at the University of Kentucky.
Omega Chi Epsilon is the honor society for chemical engineering. Eligibility is limited to the top 25% of the student class. Membership in Omega Chi Epsilon is recognized in the chemical engineering profession as a symbol of outstanding student achievement. Paducah students become members of the Upsilon Chapter at the University of Kentucky.
Pi Tau Sigma is the honor society for mechanical engineering. Eligibility is limited to the top 25% of the student class. Membership in Pi Tau Sigma is recognized in the mechanical engineering profession as a symbol of outstanding student achievement. Paducah students become members of the Pi Lambda Chapter at the University of Kentucky.
The new space exploration on Mars and beyond has started with short-term, robotic missions and would eventually expand to long-term, human explorations and inhibitions. The success of such exploration would depend upon the means to transport robots and human safely and efficiently explore to and on the planetary surfaces. As such, NASA has been challenging students to design innovated surface vehicle (Rover) through its annual Human Exploration Rover Design Challenge, hosted at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Big Blue Rover team at University of Kentucky Paducah campus designs, builds, and races a human-powered Rover to support NASA’s space exploration missions.
