HU Awarded $58.9 Million Software Grant from UGS for Architecture and Engineering Programs

Hampton, VA - UGS, a leading global provider of product lifestyle management software and services, has awarded Hampton University an in-kind software grant with a commercial value of nearly $60 million to enhance engineering and architecture programs in the HU School of Engineering and Technology. This software, used by technologists and engineers at leading global companies worldwide, will allow students to experience firsthand the current PLM industry standards for managing the entire lifecycle of a product from concept, through production, delivery, maintenance and retirement.

"The software from UGS gives our engineering and architecture students access to world-class tools to design, model, analyze and simulate structures as well as design and simulate assembly lines," said Dr. Eric J. Sheppard, dean of the HU School of Engineering and Technology. "I'm excited as an educator to know that our students will have access to powerful UGS applications. We have a strong team of engineering and architecture faculty that will integrate the software into our learning environment."

Architecture students will be able to simulate and analyze kinetic structures, engineering students will have access to electives using CAD systems, and students across the School of Engineering and Technology and the University can work on design teams using the same applications used at top companies around the world, according to Sheppard.

"Engineering and architecture students need to learn to create, analyze and develop designs, and now our students have a great resource to develop challenging designs, including cars of the future, robots, buildings, or even robots that build buildings," he said .

The $58.9 million grant is being made through UGS' Global Opportunities in Product Lifecycle Management (GO PLMTM) initiative. UGS' 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.

UGS is a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services with nearly four million licensed seats and 46,000 customers worldwide. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, UGS' vision is to enable a world where organizations and their partners collaborate through global innovation networks to deliver world-class products and services while leveraging UGS's open enterprise solutions, fulfilling the mission of enabling them to transform their process of innovation.

"This nearly $60 million in-kind contribution is another example of the confidence that the nation's leaders in business, government, education, science and technology have in Hampton University's outstanding programs," said Hampton University President Dr. William R. Harvey.