PACE Makes $208 Million In-Kind Contribution To Rev-Up Computer Education At Georgia Tech

ATLANTA August 18, 2004; Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE), a corporate alliance between General Motors Corp., EDS, Sun Microsystems Inc. and UGS has recognized the Georgia Institute of Technology and its students as a solid investment in the future of engineering.

PACE has selected Georgia Tech to join its academic partnership and receive an in-kind contribution of software and other technology with a commercial value of more than $208 million. The in-kind contribution includes computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering software as well as hardware and training.

PACE, which was formed in 1999 to support key academic institutions worldwide with computer-based engineering tools, will announce the contribution and new partnership on Aug. 18 at the Cleary Theater at Georgia Tech. The featured speaker of the event will be Bob Lutz, GM Vice Chairman, Product Development and Chairman, GM North America.

The PACE contribution represents a significant investment in Georgia Tech and also fits nicely with Tech's multi-disciplinary approach to innovation, according to Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough.

"Our partnership with PACE strengthens Georgia Tech's relationships with each of these top companies," said Clough. "And in the hands of more of our students and faculty across many disciplines, the contributed technology will strengthen Tech's push to innovate through collaboration."

And for General Motors, the new partnership with Georgia Tech is an investment in the company's future.

"Today, working in the automotive product development arena demands a firm grasp of computer-based design and analysis tools," said Lutz. "General Motors is pleased to be a part of investing in the intellectual capital of tomorrow's engineers."

One of the largest corporate in-kind contributions ever given to Georgia Tech, the PACE contribution will give students access to the same programs used by leading industry professionals, including those at General Motors.

"This contribution will allow us to train our students on the latest and greatest technology. Our students will be in very high demand because they'll be using all the same programs that many of the top companies are using," said Tord Dennis, PACE Program Integrator at Georgia Tech.

The software Tech will receive includes modeling and simulation programs such as Fluent, Unigraphics and MSC Nastran. With these programs, students will have new, powerful tools to design everything from hybrid vehicles or airplanes to biomedical devices. And with Fluent, for instance, a user can design and run a simulation of how blood flows through arteries and veins or how fluids move through an engine. Other contributed software includes Teamcenter, E-factory and Solid Edge.

The software and other contributed technology will be used primarily by engineering students and faculty, in areas such as aerospace, mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering, but will also be useful to students in many of Tech's six colleges.

While the contributed software and other equipment will be concentrated in a few select labs, including the new PACE Lab in the A. French Building, it will also be installed in appropriate computer labs all over Georgia Tech.

In addition to the contributed technology, Georgia Tech's new partnership with PACE will give a boost to Tech's Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, the No. 7 mechanical engineering graduate program according to U.S. News and World Report rankings. General Motors will now recruit employees more actively from Tech and collaborate with the Institute on automotive-related research.

"Georgia Tech's partnership with the PACE program enhances our already strong relationship with General Motors, SUN, EDS and UGS," said Ward O. Winer, Regents' professor and the Eugene C. Gwaltney, Jr. chair of the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. "The PACE program adds value to a Tech education and will enhance our students' career opportunities."

Georgia Tech is the 27th institution to join the PACE program. Since its inception in 1999, the corporate partnership has contributed software, hardware, training and technical support to schools like Purdue, Michigan State, Northwestern and Virginia Tech, and institutions in Canada, China, Germany, Mexico and Sweden.

Selected universities are invited to participate based on several criteria, including: a long-term relationship with GM as a primary educational partner and a strong recruiting relationship; strength in design, engineering and manufacturing; and the institutions current and intended interest in developing curricula using PACE products and processes.

The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the nation's premiere research universities. Ranked among U.S. News & World Report's top 10 public universities, Georgia Tech educates more than 16,000 students every year through its Colleges of Architecture, Computing, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Management and Sciences. Tech maintains a diverse campus and is among the nation's top producers of women and African-American engineers. The Institute offers research opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students and is home to more than 80 interdisciplinary units plus the Georgia Tech Research Institute. During the 2003-2004 academic year, Georgia Tech reached $341.9 million in new research award funding.