working exactly like professional designers and engineers

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- A leading not-for-profit developer of engineering-focused education programs for middle and high school students has selected the ZPrinter(R) 450 as its preferred color 3D printer, giving students in-depth experience with prototyping to help them become better designers and engineers. Z Corporation is making grants available to schools implementing the Project Lead The Way curriculum to introduce or expand 3D printing with the ZPrinter 450.

Project Lead The Way(R), which has exposed more than 500,000 students to its programs in more than 3,000 schools throughout the United States, sees prototyping as an increasingly important part of the design process at leading engineering and design firms. Thus, it's one that students need to experience.

"Research indicates that more prototyping earlier in the design process yields better results in terms of product quality, cost and time to market," Project Lead The Way Director of Operations and Technology Tom White said here at the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) 2008 annual conference. "Students need to learn this in a hands-on, problem-solving environment, and the ZPrinter 450's speed, color, affordability and ease of use support this endeavor."

Z Corporation 3D printers are the industry's fastest and only ones capable of printing in multiple colors for high-impact presentation. The ZPrinter 450 is the most highly automated, which is critical for an education setting, and most optimized for a clean, contemporary classroom environment.

"No-touch" powder and binder cartridges enable clean loading of build materials. An integrated fine-powder removal chamber reduces the footprint of the system. And unlike 3D printers that attach support structures to models that later require removal with dangerous razors or chemical baths, the ZPrinter 450 supports models with loose powder that is removed automatically. These capabilities make the ZPrinter 450 as safe and unobtrusive as a standard copier.

"Engineering education is critical for our quality of life, our competitiveness, and our economic future," said Ed DeArias, Z Corporation Vice President of Global Sales and Service. "We're thrilled to be working with Project Lead The Way to provide students with compelling technology experiences that convey important principles of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Our goal is to help students be better prepared to secure interesting and well-paying jobs or continue their education through college and beyond."

For more information on Z Corporation 3D printing grants, visit https://www.zcorp.com/forms/Project%20Lead%20the%20Way/form.aspx?LST-PLTWwebsite

About Project Lead The Way

Project Lead The Way is a national 501 c3, not-for-profit educational program that helps give middle and high school students the rigorous ground-level education they need to develop strong backgrounds in science and engineering. For more information, visit www.pltw.org.

About Z Corporation

Z Corporation makes products that enable users to capture, edit, and print 3D data with unprecedented speed, ease, versatility and affordability. These products include the world's fastest high-definition 3D printers - machines that produce physical 3D models from digital data in full color, and uniquely portable 3D scanners - handheld machines that digitize 3D surfaces in real time. Z Corporation technology is enabling a wide range of applications in manufacturing, architecture, civil engineering, reverse engineering, geographic information systems (GIS), medicine and entertainment. For more information, visit www.zcorp.com.

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