Edward Rosenthal
By Zoë Eitel
After spending five years attending classes at both DePaul and Illinois Institute of Technology as part of the joint Physics and Engineering program, Edwards Rosenthal has completed his degrees as the first Aerospace Engineering student in the program.
Edward had always wanted to pursue an education and career in aerospace, so finding a joint program where he could also get a degree in physics felt like a bonus to him.
“The joint program also made the degrees financially feasible,” he says.
To further his career while he was still in school, Edward applied for the Dean’s Fellowship, which is a 10-week paid summer research internship for students in the College of Science & Health. He was selected for the fellowship and placed with the Adler Planetarium’s Far Horizons program, however, when the pandemic hit, many host sites cancelled their fellowships due to a lack of funding. The Adler Planetarium was one.
Undergraduate Research Fellow at Adler Planetarium
BS Physics 2021
But Edward was determined not to give up. He reached out to Dr. Gyuk with Far Horizons to see if any form of the fellowship could still be offered. Although the paid fellowship wasn’t available, Dr. Gyuk responded with several projects that Edward could work on with Adler. Edward ended up working on the SAINTS small satellite mission proposal.
“Throughout the time spent with Adler Planetarium, the objective was to formulate a small satellite flight dynamics mission proposal,” he says. “This involved modeling candidate Near Earth Objects for the mission, then estimating energy costs to rendezvous and impact the asteroid. By the end of my time with Adler, a small satellite mission design architecture was composed. This involved the satellite’s orbit trajectory, instrument payload complement, and subsystems design.”
“From the start, I always wanted to pursue a career in aerospace. Physics seemed like the added bonus which attracted me to city life. The joint program made the degrees financially feasible.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Edward’s work with the planetarium was remote, so instead of working onsite, he met virtually with Dr. Gyuk twice a week, which he said worked out smoothly. Edward is even open to more remote opportunities in the future and sees virtual work as an important step forward in allowing people in other locations to work together and gain important experience.
“This fellowship allowed me to deep dive into real world design challenges surrounding orbital mechanics and navigation of spacecraft,” he says. “The experience through this opportunity allowed me to apply for positions in related fields of Astrodynamics or Guidance/Navigations and Controls within the aerospace industry.”
While working at Adler, Edward applied for and was awarded the Career Center’s Internship Plus award to provide financial support.
“Since the Dean’s Fellowship funding was canceled, I figured this was the perfect opportunity to find funding for a voluntary internship,” he says.
