NIAR CATIA Instructor Wins “Top Gun” Award for the Second Consecutive Year
 
Brian Brown, associate director of the CAD/CAM Laboratory at WSU's National Institute for Aviation Research, took first place in the annual Top Gun Competition at the COE 2007 Annual PLM Conference & TechniFair held April 29-May 2 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This is the second consecutive year Brown has placed in the competition. He took third place last year. Nathan Shipley, manager of NIAR’s CAD/CAM Lab, was the 2006 first place “Top Gun” award winner. He took second place in this year’s competition. Previous winners have come from companies such as Airbus, Hyundai Motors, Cessna Aircraft and Delphi Automotive. For winning the “Top Gun,” award Brown received a Dell Precision™ M90 Mobile Workstation and award plaque. Shipley received a digital camera.
 
Eighty six industry professionals competed in the competition, which challenges CATIA engineers and designers to test their skills at developing three-dimensional parts using CATIA software. Contestants are given an actual part and must replicate the part in a race against the clock to test speed and accuracy in part design.

An image of the model that was used in this year's Top Gun Competition

The purpose of the Top Gun Competition is to demonstrate variation in CATIA model quality and modeling techniques, and provide the opportunity for a COE attendee to earn the bragging rights to the "Best CATIA Modeler."

The theme of this year’s COE PLM conference was “Innovation & Collaboration.” More than one thousand attendees from various manufacturing companies and universities attended the conference, which provided more than 150 breakout sessions presented by executives from Dassault Systèmes, IBM and various industry professionals.

For more information about the 2007 COE Top Gun Competition, including scores and times of all competitors and instructions form this year's competition, visit the Web site.

NIAR’s CAD/CAM Laboratory provides industry professionals and Wichita State University students with the latest in CATIA education and technical support for computer-aided design and manufacturing by offering classes on and off-site and writing textbooks for CATIA and ENOVIA courses. The lab offers courses five times a year, which carry engineering academic credit with the university. To learn more visit http://www.cadcamlab.org.

The National Institute for Aviation Research is a prestigious state-of-the-art aerospace research and development laboratory with global reach and expertise in research, design, testing, and certification. The Institute’s clientele includes many of the world’s aerospace manufacturers, NASA and the FAA. It is the largest aviation R&D academic institution in America. The National Institute for Aviation Research is an unincorporated division of Wichita State University.

The Engineering VISION Grant board recently announced the recipients of the Engineering VISION 2007 Grants. This grant program was founded to encourage excellence in engineering education. The grants are awarded to engineering instructors and professors who demonstrate an ability to develop outstanding classroom and field educational aids that utilize advanced technology. All submissions are currently available for review online at CATIASTUDENT.com.

This year the grant recipients are Paul Nutter from Ohio Northern University , Charles Pezeshki from Washington State University and Lawrence Wolf from the Oregon Institute of Technology. The founding grant sponsors have contributed a selection of CATIA software, a Dell laptop computer, cash honorariums and training manuals for up to 30 students along with instructor training.

Paul Nutter's entry for a timing belt assembly was particularly well received by the judging panel. They admired the depth of knowledge that the project required of its students, and the real world applicability of the submission. Professor Nutter remarked, “The Engineering VISION Grant was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate and share Ohio Northern University student projects using CATIA modeling and simulation applications in real industrial situations.”

The judging panel included Dr. M.G.(Ron) Britton, P.Eng., Associate Dean in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba , Heidi M. Steinhauer, Assistant Professor, Engineering, is the Associate Professor at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University , Xavier Fouger, Director of Dassault Systèmes' PLM Academy , and Mark Baldesarra, Research Assistant, Space Systems Laboratory, MIT.

Charles Pezeshki submitted teaching aids and a CAD model for a donut machine and an end effector for use in aircraft. According to the judges, his submission presented an excellent combination of design and analysis activities, especially the iteration between structural analysis and part redesign. Dr. Pezeshki stated, "My students and I entered the grant competition for the fun of it, of course, but also to demonstrate to other educators that CATIA is much more than a drafting/solid modeling tool— it promotes a way of thought that leads to better, and faster results.”

Lawrence Wolf's entry for the creation of a model for the Gateway Arch in St Louis was also praised by the judges for its ability to generate interest and excitement amongst engineering students.

The founding sponsors at ENGINEERING.com , Dassault Systèmes , Dell and Ascent believe that technology plays a critical role in engineering education. Students in colleges, universities and even in K-12 can better understand the mechanical principles being taught when educators embrace these tools.

For further information contact:
John Hayes, President
ENGINEERING.com, Inc.
40 Village Centre Place , Mississauga , ON Canada L4Z 1V9
E-Mail: jhayes@engineering.com
Telephone: 905-273-9991 , ext. 280
Web site: www.engineeringvision.org

COE 2007 Annual PLM Conference & TechniFair Highlights
The COE 2007 Annual PLM Conference & TechniFair was held from April 29 - May 2, 2007 at The Rio All-Suite Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

ENGINEERING.com representatives John Hayes and David Livingstone attended the Academic Round Table, hosted by Jeff Maestas and Brian Brown to discuss changes and improvements to the program, as well as showcase the excellent materials that have been provided by educators to share with their colleagues.

The Round Table was an excellent opportunity to meet fellow academia and network with them. We discussed and shared information regarding the role CATIA plays at your institution and in your curriculum. There was a lot of other users of CATIA, developers, executive decision makers and vendors that enabled attendees to build their contact network. John and David met with individuals through out the course of the conference.

Of course, most conference attendees attended the keynote presentations from top Dassault Systèmes and IBM executives, including Bernard Charles, president and CEO Dassault Systèmes and Al Bunshaft, Worldwide Vice President of PLM at IBM.

With more than 150 technical and developmental sessions to choose from as well, attendees received immediate and usable practical knowledge by attending. More details are available on the COE Web site.

Upcoming CATIA Student Competition

With the 2007 VISION Grant for educators now behind us, we are turning our focus from the educator to the student. During the summer of 2007, the Engineering VISION grant team will be holding a contest that that tests your students' CATIA skills and creativity. Using the Imagine and Shape module, students will be asked to design a device that demonstrates their knowledge in various aspects of CATIA, is unique, serves a purpose that benefits mankind, and has potential to garner mass appeal and adoption if produced.

At this time, the contest is still in the development stages. Watch for updates and more details as they become available in future editions of the CATIA Educators Communiqué or visit CATIAstudent.com.

ENGINEERING.com Activities at ASEE

With a stellar location in Honolulu, Hawaii selected for the 2007 ASEE Conference and Exposition taking place June 24th to 27th, preparations are well under way to ensure that the expectations that come with such a venue will be matched by the conference itself.

This year ENGINEERING.com will once again be teaming up with Dassault to bring an element of interactivity to this year's conference. Three separate demonstrations will be available to conference attendees showcasing CATIA, DELMIA and SIMULIA.

Attendees also have the opportunity to learn in a more structured environment in the form of a mini-classroom. ENGINEERING.com representatives will be on hand to lead participants through the Imagine & Shape module, demonstrating how powerful, fun and easy to use it is. Participants in the classroom will also receive a CD full of past Engineering VISION Grant submissions to share and inspire educators in their classrooms.

In addition to the demonstration and instructional classes, ENGINEERING.com will run a special promotion on CATIA related instructional books. For more information, please visit the ENGINEERING.com booth at ASEE. We hope to see you there!

For more information about the ASEE Conference and Exposition visit:
www.asee.org/conferences/annual/2007/index.cfm

Refer-A-Friend: Get Rewarded for Referring a CATIA User

Word travels fast! Let a friend or a colleague in on the secret many of us already know - CATIA is great for classroom learning!

• Do you know an instructor in another department, College, University or High School looking to expose their students to software used in designing the best products in the world?
• Do fellow instructors look over your shoulder and ask you what you are teaching in your classroom?

Why Give Referrals?

• Getting fellow colleagues involved with CATIA Student could save your school some money.
• The instructor that provides the most referrals by the end of 2007 will receive a discount on their school’s 2008 license renewal.

Have your referral contact Dave Livingstone:
Phone: (905) 273-9991 ext 244
E-mail: dlivingstone@engineering.com

Or visit www.catiastudent.com. Make sure they pass your name along as a referrer in order to qualify for the discount.