Last week, RPI was given a gift in-kind commercially valued at $514 million from the Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education. Not only is it the largest initial investment given by PACE to any school, but it is also the biggest in-kind contribution Rensselaer has received. The partnership will bring new technology and necessary upgrades to the School of Engineering at RPI. This will help bridge the gap between students learning to be engineers and being industry professionals. What does this mean for the present and future engineering students and to the Institute as a whole?
One of the biggest transformations is integrating UGS Corporation’s NX 4 software into the CAD classes, which were previously using SolidWorks as a tool. Last year, CAD piloted the change, and their success with the program helped support the overhaul of the curriculum. It is a program that starts with assemblies, rather than individual parts, and will increase the rate of part production. It is the same software that NASA engineers are using, as well as the other companies making up PACE. That means our students will already be familiar with what the “real world” companies use and will have an edge when it comes to applying for positions. This is a partnership that is getting RPI’s name out there and bringing necessary training to the classroom.
So now that RPI has another connection with big name companies such as General Motors, UGS Corp., Sun Microsystems, and EDS, what opportunities does that open up? We can all agree without a doubt that this donation—which is increasing the capital campaign to $1.4 billion—is just what RPI needs to keep future generations of engineers applying and becoming successful in industry. Does this mean the sophomores, juniors, and graduating seniors, however, will not benefit? Now is the time for RPI to allocate these resources to better the school for the future while finding ways for current classes to profit as well. In doing so, it is crucial to ensure that all parties benefit as much as possible and that we are able to use the donations to their fullest potential. Perhaps it’s as simple as fully integrating the new software into the up-and-coming classes, starting with this year’s or next year’s freshmen. Maybe supplemental courses could be offered to those who learned CAD on SolidWorks. Regardless, this opportunity should help all current and future engineering students alike. The success of this partnership is critical to open doors in other departments and with other companies and thus we are all challenged to make this a success.
