United States Department of Defense-sponsored program delivers STEM learning opportunities
NEEDHAM, Mass. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — November 16, 2011 — PTC® (Nasdaq: PMTC), The Product Development Company®, announced today it is working with Caterpillar and STARBASE South Dakota to develop the next generation of engineers in the Black Hills area of South Dakota. STARBASE South Dakota is one of 75 United States Department of Defense STARBASE programs that serve young people in communities across the country to motivate them in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and to pursue STEM careers.
Caterpillar and PTC have been long time supporters of STEM programs through their support of initiatives like the FIRST robotics programs and now STARBASE. PTC will provide the curriculum and training support for the STARBASE South Dakota instructors and Caterpillar will provide mentoring and engineering support for middle and secondary schools in the Black Hills region through its Engineering Design Center in Rapid City, South Dakota.
The DoD STARBASE program has introduced 3-D engineering design and manufacturing using PTC software to over 610,000 students across the United States and expects an additional 70,000 students to participate in 2012. The program provides students with 20-25 hours of real world STEM experiences. The program also helps develop positive self-esteem, teaches goal-setting skills and encourages teamwork through challenging hands-on activities.
“The support from PTC and Caterpillar provides STARBASE South Dakota with access to experienced engineers and mentors to assist with our programs,” said Sarah Jensen, director of STARBASE, Rapid City, South Dakota. “STARBASE South Dakota creates a pipeline for workforce development and has a direct impact on students. As an example, one of our middle school students spent the day with a Caterpillar engineer and walked away empowered with the knowledge that he now has the ability to be successful. That is proof that programs like STARBASE work.”
“Together with our customers, PTC is proud to be part of a technology movement that seeks to bridge the gap between school and industry in order to encourage more STEM-related careers,” said John D. Stuart, senior vice president, global education, PTC. “With the support of Caterpillar in programs like FIRST, DoD STARBASE, the PTC Engineer of Future and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, we will continue to develop a new generation of students that will have the technical knowledge and skills to work for companies like Caterpillar and its suppliers in South Dakota and around the globe.”
About STARBASE
STARBASE is a Department of Defense program that serves young people in communities across the country by offering students an opportunity to participate in a variety of hands-on learning experiences designed to increase interest in and knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). You can visit their website at http://www.starbasedod.com.
Additional Resources
- PTC’s Academic Program (web site)
- PTC and Real World Design Challenge (web site)
- PTC’s Community Relations Programs (web site)
- PTC and FIRST (web site)
About PTC
PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) enables manufacturers to achieve maximum value from their product strategies with software and services designed to optimize key business processes throughout the entire product lifecycle – from conception and design to sourcing and service. PTC’s integral solution portfolio enables customers to unleash product innovation, improve collaboration and ensure product data integrity within engineering and across the enterprise, supply chain and service partner networks. Founded in 1985, PTC employs over 6,000 professionals serving more than 27,000 customers worldwide. More information can be found at www.ptc.com.
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