Software supports engineering education

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Dec 11, 2007

Boston University is using 500 licences of SolidWorks Education Edition to teach freshmen and sophomores CAD and engineering fundamentals.

Engineering graduate and undergraduate students across the Northeast USA are gaining valuable hands-on 3D CAD skills for professional careers from curriculums incorporating SolidWorks Education Edition software.

Some of the institutions using 200 licences or more of SolidWorks software include: Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Worcester Polytechnic Institute; University of Massachusetts, Lowell; Penn State; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and McGill University.

Boston University (BU) is the latest institution to join the list.

Its Department of Manufacturing Engineering was one of the first of its kind accredited in the country.

In Manufacturing Engineering and other departments, Boston University is using 500 licences of SolidWorks Education Edition to teach freshmen and sophomores CAD and engineering fundamentals, while juniors and seniors use it in design and automation labs as well as the machine shop to hone skills.

For the first time, BU students are using one integrated CAD/CAM suite to learn about the design, machining, and assembly processes as they prepare for jobs after graduation.

Students learn 3D CAD essentials with SolidWorks, design analysis with CosmosWorks, and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) with SolidWorks CAM partner product, GibbsCAM, from Gibbs and Associates.

"Our goal is to graduate students with enough real-world experience to compete effectively for good jobs", says Professor Emeritus Merrill Ebner, a long-time CAD instructor and former engineering dean at BU.

"With SolidWorks, students get a total manufacturing experience".

"They learn how to design and analyse a product, how to machine the components, and how to assemble the product using one integrated CAD/analysis/CAM platform".

"That's a tremendous step educationally in developing qualified engineers".

Guy Thompson is one of Professor Ebner's former students and is now an engineer with Raytheon.

As a student teacher working toward a master's degree, he helped introduce SolidWorks as an instrumental tool for exposing BU freshmen and sophomores to CAD.

"SolidWorks' interface is easy for students to grasp".

"It takes only a few clicks to get the job done", he says.

"We were able to get younger students with no CAD experience up and running with simple models and drawings in just a couple of days".

"That generally takes weeks with other CAD software".

Seniors often work on real-world projects devised in partnership with industrial partners.

For example, Thompson developed a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) mirror assembly used to optically transmit data.

SolidWorks instruction and usage is extending to departments beyond manufacturing engineering, including biomedical, electrical and mechanical engineering and physics.

"Instructors like Professor Ebner and Guy Thompson understand the challenges in communicating engineering principles to students, and they know the importance of hands-on CAD self discovery in developing critical skills", says Marie Planchard, SolidWorks Director of Worldwide Education Markets.

"Those are the types of educators who will guide the next generation of qualified engineers".

Boston University relies on authorised SolidWorks reseller Technical Education Solutions for ongoing software training, implementation and support.