At OnePLM we are happy to announce another addition to our growing academic support network. In conjunction with Siemens PLM and the Faculty of Engineering and Computing at Dublin City University we will be providing Solid Edge technical support to transition year students at Donabate Community School. This is so students can work together to design, build and race two electric cars in the Greenpower competition in Belfast, June 2016.
Greenpower is an educational organisation whose aim is to inspire young people to pursue STEM subjects at University and, hopefully, bolster the industry with greater knowledge, expertise and skill. The racing of electric cars not only encourages sustainable engineering and technology, it also encourages teamwork, innovation, problem solving, and technical aptitudes.
Solid Edge is an extensively used computer-aided design package that is used throughout the engineering, technology and manufacturing sectors. Experience of using this design tool will be invaluable to students when considering their future career options.
Students from Donabate School will be mentored by academics and members of the DCU Engineering Society on a weekly basis. The cars will be built from scratch and take place in DCU’s engineering laboratories.
At the launch of this partnership, Dr. Brian Corcoran, Senior Lecturer (mechanical & manufacturing engineering at DCU), spoke briefly:
“We look forward to working with such an enthusiastic bunch of transition year students on this challenge and would encourage them to be as original and creative as possible throughout the process.
In sharing their experience, we hope that it will spark an interest for some to consider engineering at third-level and ultimately pursue a career in this area. We are grateful to Siemens Ireland for supporting us in this regard.”
DCU hope that they too can participate in the Greenpower Challenge at a senior level in the future – the IET Formula 24+. Using our technical support will put them in good stead if they do decide to enter a senior racing team; we would be more than happy to welcome them to our increasing academic support programme. This includes such prestigious institutions as Ulster University, Loughborough University and Bath University.
Gary O’Gallaghan, CEO at Siemens Ireland, had this to say of the partnership: “By using real life applications such as the building of electric cars we hope to get young people enthused about science and technology. In particular, the Greenpower Challenge to design and build an electric racing car spans the Siemens focus areas of Automation, Electrification and Digitalization. It complements our extensive global programme of engagement with young people around the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) Agenda.”