NEWS BRIEFS
Houghton, MICH. — Michigan Technological University will join an elite list of universities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada benefiting from a donation of leading edge technology that will help prepare students for careers in engineering.
General Motors Corp., Unigraphics Solutions, Sun Microsystems and Electronic Data Systems have teamed up to donate more than $34 million in a partnership entitled Partners for the Advancement of CAD/CAM Education (PACE). PACE will donate hardware, CAD/CAM/CAE software, training and technical support to nine more schools within the next six months to help ensure future engineers have the education and experience necessary to work for each of the partnering corporations.
“We are very pleased and proud to be selected by the PACE partners to participate in their program to integrate Unigraphics into the engineering curricula of key strategically located academic institutions,” said Michigan Tech President Curt Tompkins. “This significant gift of computer hardware and software, and the appropriate training to operate those systems at the cutting edge level, will greatly enhance our designing engineering and solid modeling curricula.”
Michigan Tech is the fourth university to receive a PACE donation. Select universities are invited to participate based on their ability to meet specific criteria, including:
* a long-term relationship with GM as a primary educational partner;
* a strong product development and manufacturing curricula;
* an adequate infrastructure of facilities, maintenance systems and personnel to support the donated hardware and software;
* a willingness to integrate Unigraphics software into the engineering curricula;
* dedication to providing distance learning to students at GM facilities around the globe.
“We’re looking forward to our role as a full academic partner with the enhanced capability of providing a highly skilled candidate pool of full- service engineers for GM and all the PACE partners,” said Tompkins.
The PACE initiative began in September 1999. Since then, PACE has made donations to Michigan State University, Instituto Poletecnico Nacional (Ticoman, Mexico), and the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Toluca, Mexico).
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