Engineering Education for the Mechanically Inclined

The Autodesk Generation

Autodesk’s Chief Education Officer Dr. Joe Astroth delivered a great presentation on our Education efforts at the Autodesk One Team Conference today in Las Vegas.

Even though I’ve been around for many years it’s great to hear presentation like this one to help get the gears turning again. One of the quotes that stuck me regarding the next generation of students was “They represent a transformation of our customer base from one that discovered technology during their career; to one that grew up digital.” Sounds simple doesn’t it? Almost unremarkable but in reality growing up “Digital” signals a Paradigm shift in Education. As Joe also said “We don’t need to convince them to embrace 3D, they’re already there and they can’t learn it fast enough.” But is there event more to this? While I’m not sure how broad the brush Dr. Astroth was painting with when referring to today’s students as "the Autodesk Generation’ but it made me think of a few things well beyond my favorite CAD package.

 Think about today’s college freshman. This student has undoubtedly used or been exposed to Video Games. Autodesk 3DS Max and Maya applications are the basis for nearly every video game character and environment that these students have seen for the past several years. These tools also dominate Television and Film. If they’ve seen a special effect in a commercial, they’ve seen what an Autodesk Customer has done with our tools. These students have lived in or been in buildings, homes, and schools created using Autodesk AutoCAD an application which is older than they are! If these students have ridden in a car or media player chances are those products were design using Autodesk AliasStudio tools. Not only has an Autodesk tool been used to design the Cell Phone, Autodesk Geospatial tools are used to define the infrastructure needed for those phones to work as well as other utilities. Civil Engineering tools from Autodesk are used in a growing number of States to design the roadways that take them from their Homes to College. The number of ways that Autodesk Inventor and Revit are used almost certainly has our students crossing paths with them as well.

 So maybe there is something deeper and maybe even more profound about the idea of the "Autodesk Generation"? When I took a moment to really let this sink in it made me proud to be a small part of something that has LITERALLY helped people to change the world.

So, to the Autodesk Generation; the world will soon be yours and we’ll be here  ready to help.

Farewell and Welcome

It is with great sadness that I say goodbye to this blog.  Thank you all for reading my sometimes not so organized posts.  I am starting a new position at Autodesk so I am not disappearing permanently.  There is also a silver lining as Thom will continue to keep you informed on what is happening in education. 

Thom has been a colleague of mine for many years.  I know that you all will love his off topics as well as his in depth knowledge of products and industry.  And don't get him started on the subject of BMW... It could fill the post every day. 

Best wishes Thom.. take it away!

Melissa

Design Challenge Winners Announcement

We’re excited to announce the winners of the Student Design Challenge! The challenge ran from February to June, with design submissions received from all over the world. The winners of the Design Challenge and thumbnails of their work are listed below.  The designs are posted on the Design Challenge website (www.autodesk.com/buildsomething).

In September we will further update the Design Challenge website to include profiles of all of our student winners, as well as a gallery of all of our finalists. Here’s a taste of what our winners have to say for their profile Q&As about the Community, our products, and the Design Challenge.

“Having access to free software in the Autodesk Student Community is crucial for future professional designers. The broad range of offered programs gave me the possibility to easily try out and choose the program that best matched my needs. As an industrial design student, I decided myself for Autodesk AliasStudio and while learning the program, the community was the primary address to get help, information, stay up to date and much more. The community had a really important contribution in giving me the right tools and guidance, to be prepared for the requirements of my future job.”

- Roland Cernat, Hochschule fuer Gestaltung Schwaebisch Gmuend (Germany)

“The Student Design Challenge was an excellent opportunity for me to put my skills into practice and demonstrate innovation and creativity through the use of the Revit Architecture software. As an Australian, the Student Design Challenge provided me with valuable exposure to an international competition while helping to develop my future career portfolio. As well as recognition of my design for 'the Ultimate Campus Building', the prizes will be most useful in promoting my education and future career prospects.”
-Andrew Southwood-Jones, Narrabundah College (Australia)

-Post by Jenee Cline

Design Challenge Winners

Architecture (and General Grand Prize)
Andrew Southwood-Jones, Narrabundah College (Australia)

Industrial Design (and Sustainable Design Grand Prize)
Roland Cernat, Hochschule fuer Gestaltung Schwaebisch Gmuend (Germany)

Civil Engineering
Antonio Lorio, Universita La Sapienza di Roma (Italy)

Mechanical Engineering
Donato Mazze, ITIS Mozzali, Treviglio (Italy)

3D Animation
Michael Gamrat, Mining Academy (AGH), Krakow (Poland)

SAE Baja in Illinois

It has already been a month, but I wanted to get the pictures up from the BAJA event in Illinois.  I found several videos on www.youtube.com and have added them for you to view.  The competition was held at Caterpillar's www.cat.com proving grounds which created an entertaining day.  The days of the competition were a little rainy.  It was great to watch, but we all ended up covered in mud.  Check out the other pictures on my picasa site http://picasaweb.google.com/melfrmpsu/Baja_Ill_08.

There were many great design reports submitted for the design visualization award.  It was a tough decision to pick just three.  At the end of the day, we presented the awards to these three universities...

The winners of the Autodesk Inventor Design Visualization award were:

1. Stony Brook University

2. Oregon State

3. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

Baja SAE Illinois- OSU passing in the rock garden

Home of the Barons

I want to show off one of our great high school programs.  About a year ago I was contacted by our MSD division about reviewing some high school work.  I said "ok" and forgot about it.  A DVD was sent to me from the Dekalb High School http://www.dekalb.k12.in.us/dhs2/index1.html and I set it aside.  I was then reminded of my promise and put the DVD in to view.  What I saw was amazing.  This program really takes the high school kids and gives them a real life reverse engineering project.  You can look at the video that I saw from 2007 called OmniSource.  http://www.dekalb.k12.in.us/dhs2/studentprojects/  The teacher Dave wanted me to tell him how to improve his "Engineering Research and Design class".  Can you mess with perfection?  These high school students did an incredible job.  I did talk to Dave about Inventor Studio and this year he was happy to have the students learn that as well.  I encourage you to take a look at the student projects to see what is possible.  This is the only high school in the US that I know of that is doing a class like this.  Lucky for Northern Illinois and Purdue!  It is no surprise that many of his students end up in engineering and one in Hollywood doing animation. 

Dave, if you read this, I want to say thank you.  It is teachers such as yourself that push the boundaries.  You create confident students that are excited about design.  I was very sad to hear that you will be retiring.  We here at Autodesk wish you the best.

Autodesk Developer Network is having a training camp

So if you haven't heard already, there is a DevCamp in the next couple of weeks to get training on ADI and further your knowledge.  The details can be found at www.autodesk.com/devcamp2008.  The Mechanical/Manufacturing camp is in Oregon June 11-13.  If you want to add custom programs to Inventor, AutoCAD, or one of our other great MSD products, then this is the place for you. 

I encourage you to check it out and let me know how you like it.  The 20 classes range from novice to expert and all focus around Autodesk's API.  This is a great opportunity to work with the best of the best.

Aspire to Inspire

 

Education is getting some press from our own Lynn Allen http://lynn.blogs.com/ this year.  To see what is new in our 2009 products and meet Lynn, go to www.autodesk.com/eduevents. Attend an exclusive event for Post-Secondary and Secondary Educators and inspire your students to become the next generation of design professionals.

Spotlight on Students

Today's student is Peter Halasz!

Peter is from Europe and brings a very different look at education.  He explains what he is doing and why he chose to do things that way.  Thank you Peter for all of your information that you are open to sharing.  I am hoping that more students will step forward with open answers so that we may all learn something new.

1   What is your major and why did you select it?         

My major in SZIE (St. Stephen’s, Univ.) is Manufacturing Technology of Machines, but in Vienna, I didn’t take anything yet, it’s a bit different of a system around here than in the states. I chose the mentioned major, because it is the most practical and complex depiction of vision I have about the mechanical engineering, it doesn’t focus too hard on one particular subject, and I prefer having a wider perspective. The focus is given from my side, by concentrating on a smaller area of studies in my spare time.

2  What is the most important thing that you have learned in your studies so far?         

FEM, CAD, CAM overall, using the technologies/softwares for these. At least I appreciate these the most (keeping in mind that I learned the aforementioned only by myself, since the curriculum is just about to touch these topics..). On the other hand, from the industry, the benefits from being able to use these tools in real life, on real problems

3  Where are you hoping to live after you graduate?         

I’m planning to move to London after I finish here, but for how long, I don’t know it yet, probably a few years. Or more. :)

4  What do you enjoy doing in your free time?         

I spend my free time usually with modeling, when I’m in the city (either), if not, than I prefer angling. I spose not for the catch, but for the lifestyle it is connected to.

5  What advice would you give to those in high school considering College/University?         

I’d tell them to find out really early what would they want to study, what leads to the way they want to start on, because spending 3 or 4 years just to warm up on winter days at school -because what you’re being taught is not what you wanted- is plainly not a good idea. Plus I suggest to realize that school is not the manifestation of godly knowledge, it is a company to support your thirst for knowledge only to an extent, the rest you need to work out for yourself, and that’s pretty damn hard if you’re not motivated enough.

6  How long did the project take?         

It took one week of work, including the documentation, drawings, and the backyard work needed for the calculation to be as appropriate as possible, on my level.

7 Anything else that you would like to share with the readers?         

I’ve studied in Hungary for 3 years at St. Stephen’s University (city: Godollo, faculty: Mechanical Engineering), which probably doesn’t tell you anything at all. However, after that I transferred to Vienna, Austria (TU Wien, same faculty), keeping myself in the Hungarian higher education program by means of postal tuition, meaning that I’m doing the two courses parallel, for the austrian type of education is more lexical and focused but less practical, and the hungarian type much more practical but less focused. I prefer both, for the sake of widening my perspective, and because I learned from the past 5 years of working in the industry in a workshop, that the lexical knowledge is pretty much worth nothing without seeing and touching things.

First day of Spring

Well, welcome to spring 2008. I hope that it looks like spring where you are. I am in Hancock, MI looking out at a snow bank. On the bright side, I am told that it is warming up here. After all, yesterday was 32 and today is 26.

This semester is ending soon which means that I could be at your campus soon. I am looking for your projects done for a class. Please send me an email with a jpg and you can be featured in a spotlight on students blog.

I will soon be doing a series on 2009 products so stay tuned....

Melissa Thomas Autodesk World Wide Education Mechanical Engineering Solutions Specialist

Your chance to SHINE!

Autodesk announced their design competition for students of all disciplines.  Take a look at the official site www.autodesk.com/buildsomething.  The mechanical engineering competition is for any design with a tweak.  And there is a bonus for "sustainable design" spin on it.  I know how busy we all can be during this time of year, but you can use what you are already building for class.  Just don't forget the deadline of April 30th and good luck with your design.