CAS E ST U DY
SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY
Preparing Silicon Valley’s future innovators with SolidWorks Education Edition
By standardizing on SolidWorks
Education Edition software, SJSU
has established a design platform
for students in its Industrial Design
Program that better prepares them
to utilize real-world engineering and
manufacturing processes.
San Jose State University (SJSU) plays a major role in powering the innovation of Silicon
Valley. The institution’s long connection with this hotbed of technological research and
development has influenced SJSU’s rigorous industrial design curriculum, through which many
of Silicon Valley’s elite product designers have learned their craft.
Challenge:
Until recently, SJSU’s Industrial Design Department allowed students to use a variety of design,
surfacing, and freeform applications, including the Alias®, Rhino®, and Unigraphics® software
packages. However, in 2007, the department decided to embrace a single design system as the
foundation of a revamped curriculum, according to Associate Professor Leslie Speer.
Solution:
Educate industrial design students through a
curriculum that supports concept application,
promotes creativity, and leads to skills acquisition.
Implement SolidWorks Education Edition software
as the curriculum foundation.
Results:
“To cover more ground and better prepare students for work in industry, we sought to tie
in our Foundations class with the courses that follow,” Speer explains. “We wanted to give
students the necessary tools to not only visualize a design but also communicate with
engineers and work with manufacturing techniques to build their own creations.”
• Revamped industrial design curriculum
• Accelerated student CAD competency
and certification
• Facilitated designer-engineer collaboration
• Advanced sophistication of student projects
Associate Professor John McClusky, who had established the SolidWorks program at
Carnegie Mellon University, was keen on standardizing on SolidWorks® Education Edition
software. “Because SolidWorks is easier to learn and use, it serves as the link between
industrial design, engineering, and manufacturing technology,” McClusky explains. “With
SolidWorks, students can directly correlate what they design with how it’s made.”
SJSU also conducted a survey of Silicon Valley design offices to assess industry
recommendations. After SolidWorks software came out on top, SJSU’s Industrial Design
Department standardized on SolidWorks Education Edition software, making it a requirement
for students in the program and establishing it as the foundation of SJSU’s new curriculum in
2008. SJSU chose SolidWorks software because it includes easy-to-use modeling, surfacing,
and design-for-manufacturing capabilities that are necessary to support the program.
Laying the foundation
“It’s very beneficial for the
Students in SJSU’s Industrial Design Program begin using SolidWorks software after the
Foundations courses, which introduce students to problem-solving, form generation, drawing,
aesthetic principles, and physical prototyping. These concepts serve as the starting point for
learning how to use SolidWorks in the context of creating the geometries that drive product
design in the courses that follow.
students to have SolidWorks
Lecturer Jim Ammon, who teaches the SolidWorks courses, says the new approach
accelerates the development of CAD skills and the understanding of design concepts. “With
SolidWorks, students get a real jump start on industry tools and methodologies,” Ammon
says. “SolidWorks serves as both a learning interface and a tool. The software’s incredibly
intuitive and establishes a more practical, parametric paradigm for thinking about design.”
Associate certification test
threaded throughout the
curriculum. The students have
become so proficient with
SolidWorks that we’ve included
the Certified SolidWorks
as part of our final exam.”
Misha Young
Lecturer
“When students enter my advanced class, they already understand how to model in
SolidWorks,” notes Lecturer Misha Young. “This allows us to move right into complex
surfacing. It’s very beneficial for the students to have SolidWorks threaded throughout the
curriculum. The students have become so proficient with SolidWorks, that we’ve included the
Certified SolidWorks Associate certification test as part of our final exam.”
Understanding manufacturing
By standardizing on SolidWorks software, SJSU can build on the foundation laid in initial
coursework through the use of SolidWorks to apply that knowledge in subsequent classes,
such as its Materials & Manufacturing Processes course. “What’s made the curriculum work
so well is that with SolidWorks, all of the courses work better together,” McClusky stresses.
“In addition to using SolidWorks to discover how to model organic shapes, students can use
the software to learn about how to employ ribs, bosses, variable wall thicknesses, and draft;
and utilize different materials and manufacturing techniques.
“By using one design platform throughout the curriculum, the students gain a lot more power
to understand and collaborate with engineers in real-world settings,” McClusky adds. “They
leave with more than a form background, and can apply their knowledge to the vision that
represents the soul of industrial design.”
Elevating quality of student projects
Since implementing SolidWorks software, SJSU faculty has witnessed a dramatic increase in
the ambition, complexity, and thoroughness of student design projects. The project that best
illustrates this growing sophistication is the Arbor Solar Seating project.
Using SolidWorks software, a group of students developed and built a solar-powered
arbor—a covered seating area like a bus stop—in downtown San Jose. The arbor is a
modular system of “solar trees” that cover benches, providing protection from the sun while
simultaneously harnessing its power to operate lighting, run a wireless router, and provide
access to power outlets.
Since the school implemented SolidWorks
Education Edition software, the quality and
complexity of SJSU student projects have
risen dramatically.
“With SolidWorks, students can undertake more substantial projects,” McClusky notes.
“SolidWorks helps students make intelligent decisions more quickly and accurately,
and complete projects with a level of detail, refinement, and consistency that we haven’t
seen before.”
San Jose State University
Design Department/Industrial
Design Program
One Washington Square
San Jose, CA 95192-0225 USA
Phone: +1 408 924 4320
www.sjsu.edu/design/
Dassault Systèmes
SolidWorks Corporation
175 Wyman Street
Waltham, MA 02451 USA
Phone: 1 800 693 9000
Outside the US: +1 781 810 5011
Email: generalinfo@solidworks.com
www.solidworks.com
SolidWorks is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation.in the US and other countries. Other brand and product
names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. ©2013 Dassault Systèmes. All rights reserved. MKSANCSENG1113