SCIENCE
$13.2 Million Grant From UGS Enhances Human Factors Instruction at Binghamton
UGS and Binghamton University today announced an in-kind software grant with a list price commercial value of $13.2 million that will provide faculty and students with valuable hands-on experience using leading ergonomics and human factors applications. The in-kind software grant is the largest in Binghamton University history. 
UGS will provide Binghamton University with digital manufacturing simulation software from its Tecnomatix suite of products, which is used by major international companies to improve the ergonomics of product design and workplace tasks. With specific applications for use in industrial and systems science engineering classes, the Tecnomatix virtual human component software enables Binghamton University undergraduate and graduates students to create digital humans of various sizes in virtual environments, assign them tasks and analyze their performance. This information helps organizations improve the ergonomics of product design faster and cheaper, and create workplace tasks that are safer and more effective.
This latest grant from UGS builds upon earlier support. In 2004 and 2005, UGS provided Binghamton University with grants of Solid Edge software, UGS' software available to all undergraduate and graduate students in the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science.
"UGS' ongoing support allows Binghamton University students to gain valuable hands-on experience using leading industrial software," said Binghamton University President Lois B. DeFleur. "The advances that our University can make by bringing together our bright students with inspired faculty and corporate friends such as UGS, strongly enhances the value of student experience at Binghamton University. These kinds of partnerships open many doors for instructional and research developments across our campus and have the potential to forge innovative relationships with small to mid-sized businesses in Greater Binghamton and across New York State."
The grant is being made through UGS's Global Opportunities in Product Lifecycle Management (GO PLM) initiative, which leads the PLM industry in the commercial value of in-kind grants it provides at more than $4 billion annually. UGS's GO PLM initiative brings together five complementary community involvement programs focused on academic partnership; regional productivity; youth and displaced worker development; and the Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE) program. The initiative provides PLM technology to more than 860,000 students annually at nearly 8,400 global institutions, where it is used at every academic level -- from middle schools to graduate engineering research programs.
"This software will provide Binghamton University undergraduate and graduate students with the same tools used in product innovation efforts by some of the world's leading global manufacturers," said Charles R. Westgate, dean of the Watson School. "A wide range of Fortune 100 and Global 50 companies use UGS' software and solutions so having our students gain
experience with this cutting-edge technology will prepare them to be leaders in a global work environment."
Under the guidance of Mohammad Khasawneh, assistant professor of systems science and industrial engineering, Tecnomatix tools are also expected to create collaborations across the University's academic environment.
"This software will initially be used to enhance our human factors instruction but it has potential for so much more," said Khasawneh. "The flexibility of Binghamton's academic environment will foster and encourage unique partnerships across disciplines to serve both instructional and research opportunities. We are also looking forward to the possibility of working with UGS to generate next generation products to serve an even broader clientele."
Tecnomatix also has the potential of serving small to mid-sized businesses in the Greater Binghamton area and across New York State through partnerships in Binghamton University's Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence (SPIR) program. These projects would offer businesses access to services that combine this industrial software and University expertise.
"Bringing the right products to market at the right time is one of the key business drivers for today's most competitive companies," said David Shirk, executive vice president of Global Marketing, UGS. "Providing software to leading universities like Binghamton University empowers knowledge for 21st Century engineers to tie into global innovation networks that the world's leading manufacturers are leveraging to build the most innovative products. UGS is committed to Binghamton University's outstanding students and dedicated faculty. UGS is proud to build on its relationship with the University and manufacturers in New York and beyond."
UGS will provide Binghamton University with digital manufacturing simulation software from its Tecnomatix suite of products, which is used by major international companies to improve the ergonomics of product design and workplace tasks. With specific applications for use in industrial and systems science engineering classes, the Tecnomatix virtual human component software enables Binghamton University undergraduate and graduates students to create digital humans of various sizes in virtual environments, assign them tasks and analyze their performance. This information helps organizations improve the ergonomics of product design faster and cheaper, and create workplace tasks that are safer and more effective.
This latest grant from UGS builds upon earlier support. In 2004 and 2005, UGS provided Binghamton University with grants of Solid Edge software, UGS' software available to all undergraduate and graduate students in the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science.
"UGS' ongoing support allows Binghamton University students to gain valuable hands-on experience using leading industrial software," said Binghamton University President Lois B. DeFleur. "The advances that our University can make by bringing together our bright students with inspired faculty and corporate friends such as UGS, strongly enhances the value of student experience at Binghamton University. These kinds of partnerships open many doors for instructional and research developments across our campus and have the potential to forge innovative relationships with small to mid-sized businesses in Greater Binghamton and across New York State."
The grant is being made through UGS's Global Opportunities in Product Lifecycle Management (GO PLM) initiative, which leads the PLM industry in the commercial value of in-kind grants it provides at more than $4 billion annually. UGS's GO PLM initiative brings together five complementary community involvement programs focused on academic partnership; regional productivity; youth and displaced worker development; and the Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE) program. The initiative provides PLM technology to more than 860,000 students annually at nearly 8,400 global institutions, where it is used at every academic level -- from middle schools to graduate engineering research programs.
"This software will provide Binghamton University undergraduate and graduate students with the same tools used in product innovation efforts by some of the world's leading global manufacturers," said Charles R. Westgate, dean of the Watson School. "A wide range of Fortune 100 and Global 50 companies use UGS' software and solutions so having our students gain
experience with this cutting-edge technology will prepare them to be leaders in a global work environment."
Under the guidance of Mohammad Khasawneh, assistant professor of systems science and industrial engineering, Tecnomatix tools are also expected to create collaborations across the University's academic environment.
"This software will initially be used to enhance our human factors instruction but it has potential for so much more," said Khasawneh. "The flexibility of Binghamton's academic environment will foster and encourage unique partnerships across disciplines to serve both instructional and research opportunities. We are also looking forward to the possibility of working with UGS to generate next generation products to serve an even broader clientele."
Tecnomatix also has the potential of serving small to mid-sized businesses in the Greater Binghamton area and across New York State through partnerships in Binghamton University's Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence (SPIR) program. These projects would offer businesses access to services that combine this industrial software and University expertise.
"Bringing the right products to market at the right time is one of the key business drivers for today's most competitive companies," said David Shirk, executive vice president of Global Marketing, UGS. "Providing software to leading universities like Binghamton University empowers knowledge for 21st Century engineers to tie into global innovation networks that the world's leading manufacturers are leveraging to build the most innovative products. UGS is committed to Binghamton University's outstanding students and dedicated faculty. UGS is proud to build on its relationship with the University and manufacturers in New York and beyond." 