Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division, is a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services.
With a commercial value of nearly $245 million, it is the largest in-kind grant in the university’s history.
The grant was made through the Siemens PLM Software Global Opportunities in Product Lifecycle Management program – called GO PLM™ – and includes engineering software, student/instructor training and specialized software certification programs.
ASU graduates with training on such industry- leading design software are more attractive to prospective employers.
“Advanced tools such as the PLM software are essential to preparing our engineers for the challenges they will face in an increasingly complex and global economy. They will be able to meet demand for designing and analyzing systems that transcend traditional boundaries,” said Deirdre Meldrum, dean of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
“This gift from Siemens PLM Software aligns with our vision of leading engineering education and research that sparks innovation, and enables engineers to improve the quality of life,” Meldrum said.
“Today’s leading manufacturing and technology companies compete on the basis of time to market, product cost, quality and innovation,” said Dave Shirk, executive vice president of Global Marketing for Siemens PLM Software. “It’s quite clear that today’s best students in top programs, like the program at ASU, benefit through opportunities to gain experience with technology that supports these objectives.”
ASU now joins other leading universities with which Siemens PLM Software has similar academic partnerships or has made similar in-kind grants, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of California at Berkeley, Michigan State University, Brigham Young University, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, Carnegie Mellon and Purdue.
ASU Graduate student Adam Dixon said training on Siemens PLM Software’s technology “will make ASU engineering grads more marketable. It will definitely open more doors.”
“Many companies use the software because of its superiority,” said Dixon, who is studying engineering design and works in ASU’s Design Automation Lab. “Having access to this innovative technology will give us a clear advantage in the workforce.”
Jami Shah, a professor in Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and director of the Design Automation Lab, said Siemens PLM Software “has an extremely generous academic license program. Siemens PLM Software realizes the important responsibility industry has in contributing to higher education.”
“Our mechanical and aerospace engineering graduates go to work for major engineering companies that use these kinds of high-end computer–aided design and finite element analysis software packages,” Shah explained. “This is why it’s important to instruct students with tools such as Siemens PLM Software’s NX™ software.”
“We’ve used Siemens PLM Software’s state-of-the-art software products for nearly 25 years,” he said. The academic license program allows students to use engineering software analysis packages such as NX, I-deas™ and Nastran® to perform critical engineering tasks such as stress and failure simulation, vibration and dynamics analyses and thermal analyses.
“The software is a great teaching tool because it makes everything transparent,” Shah said. “It clearly shows the student how the results of any design work or engineering analysis were computed. You can see and control the workings of the software packages.”
Troy Howe, a senior studying mechanical and aerospace engineering, said the computer-aided design program “has been invaluable to my progress.”
Howe uses the program at work to build three-dimensional models and drawing schematics.
“My training in class gave me the confidence and ability to complete my projects quickly and accurately,” he said. “It has helped me draw praise for the quality of my work. So I’m looking forward to next semester when I’ll take the advanced computer-aided engineering class with the new PLM software.”
GO PLM Program
www.siemens.com/partners/goplm
Siemens PLM Software’s GO PLM™ initiative leads the industry in the commercial value of the in-kind grants it provides and brings together four complementary community involvement programs focused on academic partnership, regional productivity, youth and displaced worker development and the PACE (Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education) program. GO PLM provides PLM technology to more than 1,000,000 students yearly at nearly 10,200 global institutions, where it is used at every academic level – from grade schools to graduate engineering research programs.
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is creating a new model for American higher
education, an unprecedented combination of academic excellence,
entrepreneurial energy and broad access. This New American University is
a single, unified institution comprising four differentiated campuses
positively impacting the economic, social, cultural and environmental
health of the communities it serves. Its research is inspired by
real-world application blurring the boundaries that traditionally
separate academic disciplines. ASU serves more than 67,000 students in
metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, the nation's fifth largest city. ASU
champions intellectual and cultural diversity, and welcomes students
from all 50 states and more than 100 nations across the globe. A
comprehensive public metropolitan research university enrolling more
than 60,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students on four
campuses, ASU is a federation of unique colleges, schools, departments,
and research institutes that comprise close-knit but diverse academic
communities that are international in scope. ASU champions intellectual
and cultural diversity, and welcomes students from all fifty states and
more than one hundred nations across the globe.
