Grant to enrich engineering education
Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering Dean Deirdre Meldrum and engineering professor Jami Shah (holding plaque) with Hulas King, (far left) director of GO PLM and Global Community Relations at Siemens PLM Software and Dave Shook, senior vice president and managing director, Americas, Siemens PLM Software at ceremony to announce a record-setting in-kind grant to ASU.
August 11, 2009
ASU will enrich its engineering education and provide students more advanced preparation to enter the work force through an in-kind software grant from Siemens PLM Software to ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering announced today.
Siemens PLM Software is a division of the Siemens Industry Automation Division and a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services.
With a commercial value of nearly $245 million, it is the largest in-kind grant in the university’s history.
The grant was made through the Siemens PLM Software Global Opportunities in Product Lifecycle Management program – called GO PLM™ – and includes engineering software, student/instructor training and specialized software certification programs.
ASU graduates with training on such industry-leading design software are more attractive to prospective employers.
“Advanced tools such as the PLM Software are essential to preparing our engineers for the challenges they will face in an increasingly complex and global economy,” says Deirdre Meldrum, the dean of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. “They will be able to meet demand for designing and analyzing systems that transcend traditional boundaries.”
“This gift from Siemens aligns with our vision of leading engineering education and research that sparks innovation, and enables engineers to improve the quality of life,” Meldrum says.
“Today’s leading manufacturing and technology companies compete on the basis of time to market, product cost, quality and innovation,” says Dave Shirk, the executive vice president of Global Marketing for Siemens PLM Software. “It’s quite clear that today’s best students in top programs, such as the program at ASU, must benefit through opportunities to gain experience with technology that supports these objectives.”
ASU now joins other leading universities with which Siemens has similar academic partnerships or has made similar in-kind gifts, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of California at Berkeley, Michigan State University, Brigham Young University, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Carnegie Mellon and Purdue.
Adam Dixon, an ASU graduate student, says training on the Siemens PLM Software “will make ASU engineering grads more marketable. It will definitely open more doors.”
“Many companies use the software because of its superiority,” says Dixon, who is studying engineering design and works in ASU’s Design Automation Lab. “Having access to this innovative technology gives us a clear advantage in the work force. “
Jami Shah, a professor in Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and director of the Design Automation Lab, says Siemens PLM Software “has an extremely generous academic license program. Siemens realizes the important responsibility industry has in contributing to higher education.”
“Our mechanical and aerospace engineering graduates go to work for major engineering companies that all use these kinds of high-end computer-aided design and finite element analysis software packages,” Shah says. “This is why it’s important to instruct students with tools such as PLM Software’s NX™.”
“We’ve used Siemens’ PLM Software’s state-of-the-art software products for nearly 25 years,” he says.
The academic license program allows students to use engineering analysis packages such as NX, IDEAS and Nastran to perform critical engineering tasks such as stress and failure simulation, vibration and dynamics analyses and thermal analyses.
“The software is a great teaching tool because it makes everything transparent,” Shah says. “It clearly shows the student how the results of any design work or engineering analysis were computed. You can see and control the workings of the software packages.”
Troy Howe, a senior studying mechanical and aerospace engineering, says the computer-aided design program “has been invaluable to my progress.”
Howe uses the program at work to build 3-D models and drawing schematics.
“My training in class gave me the confidence and ability to complete my projects quickly and accurately,” he says. “It has helped me draw praise for the quality of my work. So I’m looking forward to next semester when I’ll take the advanced computer-aided engineering class with the new Siemens software.”
Siemens PLM Software’s GO PLM™ initiative leads the industry in the commercial value of the in-kind grants it provides and brings together four complementary community involvement programs focused on academic partnership, regional productivity, youth and displaced worker development and the PACE (Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education) program. GO PLM provides PLM technology to more than 1,000,000 students yearly at nearly 10,200 global institutions, where it is used at every academic level – from middle schools to graduate engineering research programs. For more information on the GO PLM program, visit the Web site http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/about_us/goplm/index.shtml
ASU is creating a new model for American higher education, an unprecedented combination of academic excellence, entrepreneurial energy and broad access. This New American University is a single, unified institution comprising four differentiated campuses positively impacting the economic, social, cultural and environmental health of the communities it serves. Its research is inspired by real-world application blurring the boundaries that traditionally separate academic disciplines. ASU serves more than 67,000 students in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, the nation’s fifth largest city. ASU champions intellectual and cultural diversity, and welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 nations across the globe. A comprehensive public metropolitan research university enrolling more than 60,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students on four campuses, ASU is a federation of unique colleges, schools, departments, and research institutes that comprise close-knit but diverse academic communities that are international in scope. ASU champions intellectual and cultural diversity, and welcomes students from all fifty states and more than one hundred nations across the globe. More information on ASU can be found online at asu.edu.
The Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University serves more than 4,000 undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students, providing skills and knowledge for shaping careers marked by innovation and societal impact. Ranked nationally in the top 50 among engineering schools rated by U.S. News & World Report, the school engages in use-inspired research in a multidisciplinary setting for the benefit of individuals, society and the environment. Its 200-plus faculty members teach and pursue research in areas of electrical, industrial, chemical, mechanical, aerospace, civil, environmental, materials and energy engineering, as well as bioengineering, computer science and biomedical informatics. For more information on the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, visit the Web site http://engineering.asu.edu.
Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division, is a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services with nearly six million licensed seats and 56,000 customers worldwide. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Siemens PLM Software works collaboratively with companies to deliver open solutions that help them turn more ideas into successful products. For more information on Siemens PLM Software products and services, visit the Web site www.siemens.com/plm.
The Siemens Industry Automation Division (Nuremberg, Germany) is a worldwide leader in the fields of automation systems, low-voltage switchgear and industrial software. Its portfolio ranges from standard products for the manufacturing and process industries to solutions for whole industrial sectors that encompass the automation of entire automobile production facilities and chemical plants. As a leading software supplier, Industry Automation optimizes the entire value added chain of manufacturers – from product design and development to production, sales and a wide range of maintenance services. With around 42,900 employees worldwide Siemens Industry Automation achieved in fiscal year 2008 total sales of EUR8.7 billion. More information on Siemens Industry Automation Division can be found online at http://www.automation.siemens.com/_en/portal/index.htm
MEDIA CONTACTS:
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Siemens Corp.
Joe Kullman, [email protected]
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(480) 773-1364 mobile
Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona USA
http://engineering.asu.edu/
Note: Siemens and the Siemens logo are registered trademarks of Siemens AG. NX, Solid Edge and GO PLM are trademarks or registered trademarks of Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. All other trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks belong to their respective holders.
