McMaster earns gold standard for integrating industry software into engineering curriculum

McMaster University was recently recognized for integrating industry software and skills into engineering curriculum with a PACE Gold Certification award. McMaster is one of a few universities outside of the U.S. to receive the prestigious award.

Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE), is a program that connects companies such as, General Motors, Autodesk, HP, Siemens PLM Software and Oracle, with universities worldwide to provide students with experiential learning opportunities in design of engineering systems.

“We teach our students the computer aided design software packages used at companies like General Motors,” explained Dan Centea, Lead PACE Integrator for McMaster University and Associate Professor, School of Engineering Practice and Technology. “The PACE award means our students have the skills to design exactly the way General Motors employees do. It also means their engineering collaboration skills are exceptional when working with students from other countries.”

McMaster is one of the 65 universities from 12 countries that participates in PACE’s international engineering design collaboration projects. Since 2007, McMaster’s project teams have competed at the annual PACE Global Forums. This year’s forum took place in July 2017 in Toluca, Mexico, where the award was announced.

The real-world experience and skills students gain through PACE’s collaborative projects and annual competitions can lead to career opportunities.
“At the annual competition, students can show their skills to big companies and if companies are impressed, they have a better chance of being hired after graduation,” added Centea.

The 2016-2018 Personal Urban Mobility Access (PUMA) project is a current PACE project involving five students from McMaster’s B.Tech. Automotive and Vehicle Engineering Technology program, advised by Lucian Balan, Assistant Professor, School of Engineering Practice and Technology, and students from eight universities around the world.

The purpose of PUMA is to design, build, and manufacture a public transportation portable device. The device uses the first mile-last mile model of public transportation to improve access to transit, help commuters safely complete their trip and reduce pollution and traffic congestion in large cities. The project earned third place in the Consumer Insight category and third place in the Manufacturing category at this year’s Forum.