School of Engineering Receives Large In-Kind Grant from Siemens PLM Software

Posted on: 21 January 2016

Trinity’s School of Engineering today announced it has received an in-kind software grant from Siemens PLM Software, with a commercial value of more than €65 million.

The in-kind grant gives students access to the same technology that companies around the world depend on every day to develop innovative products in a wide variety of industries including automotive, aerospace, machinery, shipbuilding, high-tech electronics and many more.

Graduates with this type of software training are highly-recruited candidates for advanced technology jobs.

Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Engineering and Principal investigator in the Trinity Centre of Bioengineering, Sonja Hermann, is particularly excited to offer Jack™ software in Siemens Tecnomatix® portfolio, the industry-leading digital manufacturing software, to Trinity students.

The use of Jack will, for the first time, enable students of all engineering strands, including bioengineering, to test their engineering design solutions against a vast range of virtual users and their abilities.

This will allow user testing beyond hardware engineering prototypes or paper prototypes, allowing user testing to take place much earlier in the design process. It will provide feedback on the ease of use of products and services at a conceptual stage, which will facilitate informed engineering design decisions.

With an ageing population and with products fighting to offer a heightened user experience, this software will advance the students’ understanding of how to provide engineering and biomedical engineering product solutions, which are safe, efficient, effective and satisfying to use for the widest possible range of users.

Professor Ciaran Simms, Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, and Director of Teaching and Learning (Undergraduate) in Trinity’s School of Engineering, said: “By using the same technology in the classroom that is used by companies all over the world to develop a wide variety of products, our students gain important real-world experience during their studies that will serve them well after graduation.“

Dora Smith, global director, Academic Partner Program, Siemens PLM Software, said: “This grant from Siemens PLM Software enables Trinity’s School of Engineering to teach students on the same world-class PLM software for digital product design, simulation, analysis, manufacturing and product data management that is used by leading manufacturers around the world. As a result, their graduates will be highly qualified for careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.”

The in-kind grant was provided by the Siemens PLM Software’s academic program that delivers PLM software for schools at every academic level; it includes Siemens PLM Software’s Tecnomatix® portfolio, the industry-leading digital manufacturing software.

Head of Discipline of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Trinity, Professor Darina Murray, expressed her gratitude to Siemens and the UK distributor Simsol making this software available to the students.

Professor Murray said: “We are grateful to Siemens PLM Software for its commitment to advance educational opportunities for our students.”

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