Sheridan College Finding Great Jobs at P&WC

Graduates from the Mechanical Engineering Design and Drafting program at Sheridan College in Brampton, ON. are finding great jobs at Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) the world's leading manufacturer of small and medium-size aircraft gas turbine engines.

Pratt & Whitney has been exceptionally pleased with the quality of Sheridan College students. They are very well prepared with a solid engineering education and the basics of CATIA. They were brought in for a particular job and they have shown such great potential that six of the original nine have moved into drafting tasks within the other module groups.

We're Making The Leap
By Virgil Seaman, Co-chair, Academic PIC Division - Industry Specific
Department of Technology, College of Engineering and Technology,
California State University, Los Angeles

Highlights of the COE Academic Program at Spring 2001
On the opening day (Monday) we had a breakout session and a seminar. Our first breakout session entitled (AC-1) "The Justification of a Digital Product Integration Specialist," was presented by Dr. Craig Miller from the School of Technology at Purdue University. His topic was the result of a survey study conducted by Dr. Miller and Robert Cumberland, graduate student at Purdue. The survey focused on whether or not the influence of a progressive engineering graphics curriculum and digital enterprise technologies would be accepted by industry as a valid curriculum for preparing the next generation of engineering graphics technologists. Conclusions from the survey indicated that individuals with skills that assist the engineering/design process, more specifically, skills that assist the flow of design data through the enterprise are in demand by most people in industry. If you would like information about the study, contact Dr. Miller at: clmiller@tech.purdue.edu.

There were nine seminars offered at this conference. We were able to offer a seminar (AC-2) entitled "V5 Workbenches for Teachers." Seminars require attendees to sign up and although we only had 12 tickets to offer, we packed the room with over 30 people. The purpose of our seminar was to provide hands-on experiences and learning materials to take back. The three workbenches covered during this seminar included:

1. V5 Knowledgeware presented by Richard Cozzens (teacher) and Daniel Heaton (student) from Southern Utah University, Cedar City, Utah.
2. DMU Fitting Simulation by Brian Brown who is a student at Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas.
3. V5 Rendering by Virgil Seaman, Cal State University, Los Angeles. Materials from this seminar can be found at http://www.schroff1.com/catia/index.htm.

Hats off to Daniel and Brian for their hard work and great presentations!

On day two, our second breakout session (AC-3) entitled: "GTMARS: Georgia Tech Martians Automomous Rotocraft System," was presented by Captain Pete Hart of Georgia Tech. His session hilighted the usage of CATIA V 4.2.1 for preliminary conceptual design using IPPD methodology to construct a small helicopter for Mars exploration. GTMARS was a graduate level design submission for the 17th American Helicopter Society Student Design Competition 2000. The design was awarded first place in both the controls and propulsion categories. He presented the review and use of the realistic rendering product inside V4 to produce images and video files including showing GTMARS on the surface of the planet. If you would like information about GTMARS, contact Pete Hart at: pete@cad.gatech.edu.

With the leap to V5, the Top Gun competition featured both V4 and V5. There were two students, Brian Brown from Wichita State University and Travis Fuerst from Purdue University who competed in the V5 side of the contest. Even though they didn't win they placed and each won a prize.

A BIG THANKS to Bill Abramson and Buz Nowicki for their guidance and support. We wish to thank the COE Board and the COE Headquarters for helping 10 students to work this COE event and gain insight into the bigger picture of this digital world we live in.

In closing, it was sure fun to see all of our friends and to learn. I encourage you plan to join us next Fall in Orlando, Florida for another great experience!

The purpose of the Academic PIC (Process Interest Committee) is to provide a forum for presentation, demonstration, and discussion of the use of CATIA in an educational environment as related to product design, manufacturing, and allied activities. To achieve this purpose, we have set goals we have been working to achieve. They include:

1. Creating greater visibility of the Academic PIC within COE
2. Expand efforts focused on industry and academia collaboration
3. Lobby for a "student edition" of CATIA V5 that is affordable for students to purchase
4. Provide a forum at COE for teachers, trainers to exchange ideas and to learn about how others use CATIA
5. Collaborate on projects with other educational institutions
6. Provide an avenue to obtain curricular resources

The HEAT Program for colleges (and now high schools) offers for curriculum use:

1. CATIA for a nominal fee
2. Free courseware
3. Free training for instructors
4. CBT (COMPANION)
5. Support
6. ACADEMIC TRACK at COE and registration fee discounts to HEAT members

For further information about the "HEAT Program", contact information is listed below:

Q. W. (Buz) Nowicki
CATIA Higher Education an Training (HEAT) Program Manager
Product Lifecycle Management Solutions
18000 West Nine Mile Road
Southfield, MI 48075
(248) 552-5981 IBM Tie Line 896-5981 Fax (248) 552-6886
e-mail qnowicki@us.ibm.com