Although from Georgetown, Ky., Scott Ashcraft planned to leave the state to attend college…that is, until he discovered the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) laboratory housed in UK’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

“The more I looked at UK’s involvement in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the national Design, Build, Fly competition and the UAV lab, I realized there was more going on here than I had thought,” says Scott.

In the UAV lab, Scott has had the opportunity to use sophisticated technology and conduct experiments that help him gain a better understanding of aviation, aeronautics and composite fabrication. He has participated in both the NASA Undergraduate Student Research Program at NASA Langley and the NASA Aeronautics Academy at NASA Glenn, and says that getting involved in undergraduate research at UK has been one of the most valuable experiences of his college career.

“The research here is phenomenal. I’ve been to Stanford, Georgia Tech, big names in aerospace and they don’t have the capacity for UAV research like we have here at UK .”