News Release

Ford - UDM Innovation Camp Launches "Innovation Initiative: Dream It → Build It"

Summer Engineering Program for High School Students Will Teach Real-World Skills Using Dassault Systemes PLM Solutions

UDM in partnership with Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta), and sponsorship support from the Ford Motor Company Fund, the philanthropic arm of Ford Motor Company, and Dassault Systèmes, will be part of the Innovation Initiative: Dream It à Build It. The first step of this initiative is the Ford – UDM Innovation Camp beginning Monday, July 18, 2011.

Innovation Camp is a two-week summer program run simultaneously at Georgia Tech and UDM on the McNichols Campus – Engineering Building. The students in Detroit will be led by Georgia Tech grad students and UDM Professor Kirstie Plantenberg, author of a widely-used CATIA textbook. Approximately 30 Detroit-area high school teachers and students will participate from schools from across the areas, including Notre Dame Preparatory School (Pontiac), Troy High School, University of Detroit Jesuit (Detroit), The Roeper School (Birmingham), Oakland Schools Tech Center (Royal Oak) and Brother Rice High School (Bloomfield Hills).

The first week is focused on teaching students how to use Dassault Systèmes V6 Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software platform consisting of CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA and SIMULIA. Dassault Systèmes’ PLM solutions are the premier 3D engineering design and collaboration tools used by the aerospace and automotive industries, as well as numerous additional markets, including consumer goods, energy, industrial equipment and others.

During the second week, participants working in collaborative teams from both locations will tackle design problems related to automobiles or renewable energy. Upon completion of the camp, attendees receive a certificate of completion and other awards for their participation.

“The Innovation Initiative is designed to encourage more young people to consider careers in engineering and to introduce the exciting digital technology tools that are being used by industry across all sectors today," said Derrick Kuzak, group vice president, Global Product Development. "We believe the Innovation Camp and other similar programs are essential to motivate and prepare America’s youth for studies in engineering and help sustain the leadership of our nation in innovation, product development and manufacturing.”

The Innovation Initiative creates a collaborative manufacturing environment enabled by Dassault Systèmes’ V6 platform and by other advanced technologies, such as rapid prototyping that allows students to “print” three-dimensional parts. These systems allow teams comprised of high school students in both Michigan and Georgia to collaborate in real-world design and production processes involved in the creation of innovative vehicles and equipment.

"We are excited to be part of this partnership with some of the world's leaders in engineering and engineering education,” said Dr. Leo Hanifin, UDM Dean of the College of Engineering and Science. “The students in this camp will employ cutting edge systems for design and engineering collaboration that are available at few universities and corporations in the world.  It is our hope and expectation that they will become the engineering leaders of the future."

This initiative is a pilot for a much larger project with hopes to eventually involve 1,000 high schools from across the nation.  The goal is to engage students across clusters of schools to collaborate via social networking media through the V6 platform and to jointly design and build systems of moderate complexity in response to prize challenges.

Said Roy Smolky, academic sales operations for Americas, DELMIA, Dassault Systèmes, “We are proud to contribute to this groundbreaking project, where students can communicate through the V6 single, web-enabled database to develop collaborative designs in real-time, mimicking the way an OEM might work with its extended enterprise of supplier partners.”

Release date: June 16, 2011

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For more information about UDM, or to apply online, go to www.udmercy.edu/apply.