Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler,
carmen.chandler@csun.edu,
(818) 677-2130
The computer-aided design software package, CATIA, is one of the most sophisticated and complete software packages currently available for doing highly complicated engineering design.
Laurence Caretto, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, said the gift was a wonderful addition to the college.
"Gifts like these help maintain the quality of our programs and provide our students opportunities to work on cutting-edge technology," he said.
Civil and manufacturing engineering professor Bonita Campbell said the gift gives CSUN students an opportunity to work with some of the latest and most sophisticated in manufacturing engineering technology.
"The nice thing about the software is that it allows you to not only do a graphic image of what you're creating, but imbedded in it is all the actual production information," Campbell said. "Once you're done creating, you can actually transmit that code to a rapid prototyping system and do an actual prototype of what it is you are creating from the image you've just drawn."
And once the project has been given a go ahead, Campbell said, the program will give you all the specifications needed for the actual design of the item, its manufacture and production, and even an image you can use for marketing.
She said CSUN is one of only two places in the San Fernando Valley, and one of only a handful of Southern California institutions, to have the software. The only other site in the Valley that has the CATIA software is Boeing.
Civil and manufacturing engineering professor Ileana Costea, who played a key role in getting the software, said the timing of the gift, which IBM officials estimate has a retail value of approximately $2.5 million, couldn't be better.
"There is a high demand in the market right now for people who know how to use CATIA," she said. "Our graduate students in automation engineering and mechanical engineering have expressed an interest in learning this computer program. To be able to provide our students with the ability to work this very powerful tool is wonderful."
She and Campbell said the demand in the engineering field for people who know how to use the software is so high that the university is offering special Saturday classes to accommodate students who work.
California State University, Northridge has more than 27,000 full- and part-time students and offers 48 bachelor's and 39 master's degrees. Founded in 1958, it is the only four-year university in the San Fernando Valley.
CSUN's College of Engineering and Computer Science is nationally recognized. A recent National Science Foundation survey of 529 universities ranked CSUN among the top 12 in the number of graduates who go on to earn doctorates in the computer sciences and engineering. It is also ranked 14th in the nation in the number of bachelors degrees awarded to Hispanic students, qualifying the campus to be recognized by U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic Serving Institution.
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