Advanced Class

Mason Viergutz

MXET ‘25

Project Manager

This will be Mason's fourth year on the team, second in a leadership position, during which he will be managing the new Advanced Class team. Mason is a mechatronics engineering student interested in high level system design and integration. While not doing school work or SAE, Mason enjoys piloting remote control planes, hiking, and camping.

Walker Buckle

AERO ‘25

Vehicle Dynamics / Co-Director

This is Walker's third year on the team, second in a leadership position, during which he will be the vehicle dynamics design lead and co-director. His goal is to build a team culture where each member can turn his or her interests into technical product ownership. Walker is an Aerospace Engineering student who is interested in small scale aircraft design optimization with a focus on fluid structure interaction. Outside of class, Walker enjoys CrossFit, golf, and crashing RC planes.

Seth Johnson

AERO ‘25

Autonomous Systems

This is Seth’s second year on the team and his first in a leadership position, where he will provide technical expertise as the autonomous systems design lead. With a strong background in flight software development and flight testing operations, Seth brings a wealth of practical experience to the team. His academic interests include flight control systems, reinforcement learning, and multi-agent coordination. Outside of SAE, Seth enjoys mountain biking and experimenting with autonomous sUAS.

River Spencer

AERO ‘25

Jack Rahm

MXET ‘25

Samuel Crow

AERO ‘24

Kaitlin Muras

AERO ‘26

Abigail Andrews

AERO ‘26

Malachi Drew

Aero ‘26

Laura Escamilla

APMT ‘25

Juan Aldapa

ENGR ‘28

Cooper Murphey

AERO ‘26

Jose Guerrero

Aero ‘24

Hugo Trueba

AERO ‘25

Ansh Gupta

AERO ‘27

Regular Class Officers

Caleb Thomas

AERO ‘25

Chief Engineer

This is Caleb's second year on the team and first as Chief Engineer. An aerospace engineering student, he is passionate about all facets of structural design and propulsion. Outside of class, Caleb enjoys tinkering with small engines and is an avid rock climber.

Sadie Binz

AERO ‘25

ASC Product Owner

This is Sadie’s second year on the team and first as ASC Product Owner. She is a senior in Aerospace Engineering and is interested in dynamics and controls. Outside of school and SAE, Sadie enjoys playing pickleball, hiking and cooking.

Kishan Patel

AERO ‘25

ASC Design Lead

This is Kishan’s second year on the team and first as ASC Design Lead. He is a senior in Aerospace Engineering student and is interested in CFD and testing the bounds for crazy plane geometries’ and their dynamics. On his free time, he likes to workout, play volleyball, and try new things.

Tejas Vaidya

IDIS ‘25

SMS Product Owner

This is Tejas' third year on SAE AERO and first as SMS Product Owner. He is a Senior Industrial Distribution student with a minor in computer science and is looking to go into Aircraft Manufacturing with a focus on component and system integration. Outside of class and SAE he works as an Academic Peer Mentor and enjoys going to the gym, playing basketball, and cooking.

Edward Eiche

AERO ‘26

SMS Design Lead

This is Edward’s third year on SAE Aero and first as SMS Design Lead. He is an aerospace engineering student with a keen interest in structural analysis and design, sustainable propulsion, and advances in aerospace materials (such as shape-memory alloys). His goal in leading the SMS team this year is to impart as much knowledge and design intuition as possible for the continued success of members both on the team and in their future careers. When he escapes campus, Edward delves deep into caves across the country (both recreational and project), plays tennis and trombone, and travels around the world on backpacking trips as often as possible.

Chantz Elliott

AERO ‘23

Shop Manager

This will be Chantz’s fifth year on the team. As shop manager, Chantz works on keeping the SAE workshop clean and with enough supplies to help both teams prototype and build successful planes. He is also responsible for the team’s compliance with all safety procedures.

Regular Class

Aerodynamics, Stability, and Controls (ASC)

Alex Howell

AERO ‘26

JD Kollar

ENGR ‘27

Dylan Alexander

AERO ‘26

Justin Tolin

MXET ‘24

Gavin Paxton

AERO ‘26

Kaushik Ambadipudi

MEEN ‘26

Suhayl Guzman

AERO ‘26

Harrison Harding

AERO ‘26

Keshav Srinivasan

ENGR ‘27

Structures and Materials Science (SMS)

Aadarsh Rebba

MEEN ‘26

Kaden Siebrasse

AERO ‘26

Om Waghela

AERO ‘25

Christopher Valle

AERO ‘26

Kathryn Carter

MEEN ‘26

Luis Albos

MXET ‘26

Theresia Heimer

ITDE ‘26

Micro Class Officers

Kyle Bedrich

ELEN ‘25

Chief Engineer

This will be Kyle's third year on the team and first as Chief Engineer. He is an electrical engineer passionate about aircraft design, developing software to model electric propulsion systems, aircraft takeoff/flight dynamics, and aircraft planform optimization. Outside of SAE, Kyle enjoys playing drums, tennis, and hiking.

Gabriel Valencia

AERO ‘25

ASC Product Owner

This will be Gabe’s second year on the team and first as ASC Product Owner. An aerospace engineering student, he is passionate about all facets of aircraft design and flight testing. Outside of class, Gabe is an avid rock climber and private pilot.

Naren Sai Kolappan

AERO '25

ASC Design Lead

This is Naren’s third year on the team and first as ASC Design Lead. As an aerospace engineering student he has interests in CFD, automation, and things that go fast. Some of his hobbies are fencing, climbing, and watching Formula 1.

Dhruval Rangrej

MEEN ‘26

SMS Design Lead

This will be Dhruval's second year on the team, and first year as a design lead for SMS on micro class. Dhruval is a mechanical engineering student interested in structural design and simulations for aircraft. While not doing school or SAE, Dhruval enjoys playing jazz on his saxophone, playing or watching sports, and watching movies.

Wayne Williams

AERO ‘26

SMS Product Owner

This is Wayne's second year on the team and first as the SMS Product Owner. Wayne is a aerospace engineering student interested in structural and systems design. In his free time, Wayne likes to cook, hike, and play sports with friends.

Micro Class Team Members

Aerodynamics, Stability, and Controls (ASC)

Aidan Chan

ENGR ‘27

Nathan Barton

AERO ‘26

Varun Vasireddy

MXET ‘27

Ashwin Viswanath

ENGR ‘27

Gautam Logeishwaran

AERO ‘24

Pranav Rajkumar

AERO ‘27

Brendan Greenly

AERO ‘26

Julian Lopez

AERO ‘27

Quinton Walberg

AERO ‘27

Dylan Tysinger

AERO ‘25

Malina Nesian

AERO ‘26

Isshaq Farah

MXET ‘25

Structures and Materials Science (SMS)

Aarya Shah

MEEN ‘25

Pan Zhou

MEEN ‘26

Camden Maddox

AERO ‘26

Migual Cunanan

AERO ‘26

Emma Hoaglin

MEEN ‘25

Jayden Szeto

MEEN ‘27

Mason Coelho

AERO ‘25

Jaylon Palmer

MEEN ‘25

Eduardo Burciaga-Ichikawa

MEEN ‘25

Directors

Walker Buckle

Co - Director

Business Team

COBY ARNOLD

AERO ‘25

Business Lead

Macie Parker

ACCT ‘25

Nicole Linares

ECON ‘25

Andrea Linares

ECON ‘25

Ben Sambell

SCMT ‘26

Haru Tidmore

Co-Director

Haru is a first year masters student in aerospace engineering and third year on the team. Haru is continuing his passion for competing and winning by serving as our Co Director and Graduate Advisor. He was the ASC Design Lead for Micro Class from 23-24 and helped bring home the first micro class championship in program history. Outside of SAE he enjoys playing golf, pickle ball, video games and traveling.

Ayden Woods

ECON ‘25

Our Advisors

Dale Cope

Faculty Advisor

Dr. Dale Cope is an Associate Professor within the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He received his bachelors at Texas A&M University in Aerospace Engineering, his masters at the Air Force Institute of Technology, and doctorates at Wichita State for Aerospace Engineering. Dr. Cope has had experience as an Air Force officer, working on the KC-135 program. He is currently working on Unmanned Aircraft Systems for agriculture and engineering education.

Scott McHarg

Pilot

My name is Scott McHarg and I am an Advisor for the Texas A&M SAE AERO Design team.  I have been an advisor for the team now for 5 years.  I have also had the honor to serve as the team pilot for the past 3 years and developmental pilot for the past 10 years.  I’ve been flying R/C airplanes for over 33 years now and have flown everything there is to fly over the course of my career.  I’ve been flying commercially for private entities and the military for about 30 years now beginning with the RQ2 Pioneer UAV.  I have almost 13,000 hours of mission time and my current passion is turbine jet aerobatics.

There’s nothing that I haven’t seen over the years that is until I became an advisor for this amazing team.  The designs, iterations, and final concepts that this team produces amaze me more each year.  The cohesiveness of this group is unlike anything I’ve been part of.  I’m truly honored and blessed to be involved with these students and can’t wait to head back to the competition.