Engineering curriculum to be enhanced with GM grants for advanced software
Wayne State University is pleased to announce the receipt of three grants from the General Motors Foundation in support of engineering curriculum development. The grants, totaling $26,000, will provide the opportunity for faculty to redesign curriculum in undergraduate and graduate courses to take full advantage of state-of-the-art software tools employed in industry.
Ralph Szygenda, chief information officer of General Motors Corporation, has joined Wayne State President Irvin D. Reid and the lead faculty utilizing the grants to present the check for $26,000. The faculty are: Dr. Kyoung-Yun Kim, Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering; Dr. Jerry Ku, Department of Mechanical Engineering; and Dr. Gene Liao, Division of Engineering Technology.
The curriculum enhancement supported by these funds represents the initial phase of a full-scale curriculum revision to bring additional focus to the theories and tools used in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), a key system employed throughout industry to effectively and efficiently design products and manufacturing processes. The initiative is an outgrowth of the college's overall emphasis on an education that prepares students for the real world challenges of their profession.
The engineering analysis software will be incorporated into seven courses offered through the College of Engineering - Industrial Engineering 6405 (Integrated Product Development), Alternative Energy Technology 5600 (Alternative Energy Product Realization), Mechanical Engineering 3300 (Fluid Mechanics Theory and Laboratory), Mechanical Engineering 4210 (Heat Transfer Theory and Laboratory), Mechanical Engineering 4300 (Thermal Fluid Systems Design), Engineering Technology 3050 (Dynamics), and Mechanical Engineering Technology 3410 (Kinematics and Dynamics of Machines).
In addition to the cash donation from the General Motors Foundation, the faculty and graduate students teaching the courses will be supported by the software companies through additional software licenses to use during the development of the curriculum. The companies participating in these projects are UGS, MSC Software Corporation, Livermore Software Technology Corporation, and Fluent Inc.