Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative EngineeringEducation (PACE) announced this week the donation of anunprecedented $71 million worth of engineering software and relatedcomputer technology to the enhancement of Howard University’sCollege of Engineering.
PACE, formed in 1999 by General Motors Corp., EDS, SunMicrosystems Inc. and UGS to improve the skill level of arts andengineering students is one of 27 national and internationalacademic institutions within Howard’s academic partnershipthat have contributed money to the school, but this donation is thelargest in the university’s 137-year history.
Some of the software, which will used in “retrofitted andrevamped” facilities in the College of Engineering and designstudio in the School of Fine Arts, will include modeling andsimulation programs like NX™, Teamcenter®, MSC Nastranand Fluent, which give students within this field the opportunityto design high-level projects like airplanes and hybridvehicles.
PACE’s contribution supports “TheCampaign for Howard: Leadership for America and the GlobalCommunity,” the school’s five-year initiative to raise$250 million, which was launched in March 2002. Right now theschool is $87 million away from its goal.
H Patrick Swygert, Howard’s president,told Washington Post reporters that he is confident students andfaculty will make good use of the program and that the gift willimprove the university’s interdisciplinary science andresearch capabilities.
“It’s a fabulous recruitingtool,” Swygert said. “Students coming to Howardinterested in industrial design will have identical workstations,and the classrooms and the software will mimic what engineers areusing out in Michigan.”
Founded in 1867, Howard’s StrategicFramework for Action has led the school to undergo numerousadditions and renovations within the last decade. Under thisagenda, which was implemented in 1995 by Swygert, universityofficials hope to strengthen academic programs and services,promote excellence in teaching and research, increase privatesupport and enhance national and community service.
