Wichita State Ranked Fourth in Aero R&D

According to the most recent National Science Foundation statistics for fiscal year 2004, Wichita State University is in elite company, ranking fourth among all U.S. universities in aeronautical research and development expenditures. Wichita State has climbed three places, improving its number seven rank from 2003.

John Tomblin, executive director of the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State, is particularly excited about the university's rank improvement.

"Hopefully this ranking will help put the university in the forefront of people's minds when they think of aerospace research," he said.

Wichita State's No. 4 rank is largely due to the research and testing programs at NIAR. This significant growth is due in part to the support of the local and national aviation industry, as well as numerous federal agencies.

Twenty years ago, Wichita State did not even appear on the list. Today, people are surprised to hear how high Wichita State is ranked, according to Tomblin.

And NIAR's research and development expenditures continue to increase, with $23 million in 2005 and more than $30 million in 2006.

"The aviation industry recognizes the cutting-edge research that Wichita State is doing in aerospace. As future companies look for a site to locate with strong aerospace ties, we play a major role in providing a research and testing arm," Tomblin said. "These research efforts make us a world leader as well, and I think that shows not only with the research that we're doing with industry, but also with federal agencies, such as the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA and the Department of Defense."

NIAR is a member of three FAA Centers of Excellence: the Airworthiness Assurance Center of Excellence, Center of Excellence for General Aviation Research, and Center of Excellence for Composites and Advanced Materials, of which WSU is the lead institute. NIAR is the lead institute for NASA's National Center for Advanced Materials Performance.

Engineering VISION Grant: Application Now Being Accepted

The Engineering VISION Grant 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.

The founding sponsors at ENGINEERING.com, Dassault Systèmes, IBM 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. The grant requirements include a mechanical model submission based on CATIA.

The Engineering VISION Grant will create a forum to share the ideas of leading and innovative engineering educators. In addition, all grant submissions will be posted on the community web site at www.catiastudent.com. By sharing their leadership, grant participants will be advancing the level of engineering education world-wide.

The Engineering VISION Grant has prestigious panel of judges including Lawrence J. Wolf, PhD, professor of the Oregon Institute of Technology, Dr. M.G.(Ron) Britton, P.Eng., Associate Dean in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba, Heidi M. Steinhauer, Associate Professor at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Mark Baldesarra, Research Assistant, Space Systems Laboratory, student at MIT and Xavier Fouger, Director of Dassault Systèmes' PLM Academy.

The submissions can be entered by January 3, 2007.

For more information or to submit your application, click here.

CATIA V5R17 RELEASE: Dassault Systèmes, IBM and ENGINEERING.com Demonstrate New Level of Commitment to Academia

In addition to many new elements in CATIA V5R17, Dassault Systèmes, IBM and ENGINEERING.com have demonstrated new level of commitment to academia with this release. The new CATIA V5R17 greatly expands the functionality available to Educators and Students alike.

"The big news for students is the broad increase in functionality in the new CATIA Student Version", said John Hayes, President of ENGINEERING.com. "Now the high-end features that make CATIA the undisputed design leader for industry are included in the CATIA Student Version."

Dr. George Kizner, Chair, Mechanical Engineering at Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology stated, "This new version of the CATIA Student software includes everything students need to complete their assignments from home and enable them to complete their capstone design projects. We also expect that the coolness factor of using the world's leading design software will encourage students to continue to explore their engineering interests on their own time."

There was also good news for K-12 educators with the introduction of the Discovery Configuration, a full-featured suite of CATIA V5 modules designed specifically for high schools. The Discovery Configuration is intended to provide a basis for introducing the world's leading design environment to students at an early age. "As a secondary school educator, I was impressed with the power of the new CATIA V5 Discovery configuration," said Sharlene Kroneck, at De La Salle Collegiate High School in Warren Michigan. "Our students are excited by the fact that they can use the same tools in the classroom that professional engineers use to design cars and aircraft."

CATIA V5R17 boosts innovation for product excellence - CATIA V5R17 extends end-to-end industry process coverage through major enhancements in 3D electrical harness flattening, and the increased efficiency of CATIA Machining NC programming and simulation. This significantly reduces overall manufacturing process time.

New core styling enhancements allow for rapid exploration of design ideas while permitting last-minute styling modifications. Design productivity is significantly improved with a breakthrough auto-filleting capability that enables automotive power train and chassis designers to dramatically save time.