Ewu Handed $8.5 Million In Engineering Software Ohio Firm’S Gift Of Engineering Design Program Breaks School Donation Record
Eastern Washington University received $8.5 million worth of engineering technology software this week - the largest single donation the school has ever received.
Structural Dynamics Research Corp. of Milford, Ohio, gave Eastern 25 copies of I-DEAS software, a state-of-the-art engineering design program that’s used commercially by companies such as Boeing and Ford.
“It’s amazing stuff,” said Donald C. Richter, EWU’s assistant technology professor who secured the gift.
The software enables students to design a virtual 3-D part, test it, make changes and then send the codes down to a machine to create the design. It’s a faster and more efficient process for engineers involved in design, analysis and computer-aided manufacturing.
It’s rare for a regional university such as Eastern to receive such a gift, Richter said. Such technologies are usually awarded to Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other large, prestigious and research-oriented universities.
Richter learned about I-DEAS software in St. Louis, where he presented a paper at the American Society of Engineering Education seminar this year.
When he returned to Cheney, he applied for a gift-in-kind grant. Eastern met the criteria set by SDRC and received the software.
“This shows that Eastern can produce students that are second to none in the nation,” said Richter, who has taught at EWU for three years.
Eastern’s technology students have a nearly 100 percent job placement rate when they graduate, university statistics show.
Acquiring this software is also part of EWU’s vision of becoming a high-tech center for the region.
Eastern submitted a proposal to the Legislature to fund a $22 million computer science and engineering technology facility at the Cheney campus.
The facility is to be home to the technology and computer science departments, the two programs most in demand at EWU. If approved by the state, the money will be used to renovate and add on to Cheney Hall on campus, and the facility should be ready by fall 2004.
“We are grateful and appreciate the generosity of this gift from SDRC,” EWU President Stephen Jordan said in a prepared statement. “The gift underscores Eastern’s role as a critical component in leveraging high technology development” in Eastern Washington.
The software will be used in several university programs, including mechanical engineering technology, design technology and graphic communications, to some extent.
“We’re excited,” Richter said. The new software and Eastern’s role in technology “should help the Inland Northwest in its pursuit to become a larger player in manufacturing and design. Not just in the nation, but in the world.”