Michigan Technological University
PACE Design Competition
in MEEM 4403 Computer-Aided Design Methods

Rationale
The PACE Program (Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education) links GM, EDS, Sun Microsystems, and UGS in support of strategicallyselected academic institutions worldwide, to develop future product and manufacturing engineers, designers, and managers who can understand and apply parametrics-based applications in the automotive life cycle management process. Assisted by many companies (e.g., MSC.Software, Altair Engineering, Hewlett Packard, AutoWeb Communications), PACE provides hardware, software, training, automotive parts, and much more to PACE Institutions around the world. As part of its commitment to encourage students to use digital data in the product development and analysis processes so critical to modern engineering practices, PACE is providing student design competitions in appropriate courses within PACE Institution curricula. This is a competition that will judge four critical areas of the virtual product development process:

Parametric Modeling
Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) Simulation
Aesthetics
Teamwork and collaboration

Competition Overview
Michigan Technological University has agreed to host the PACE Competition, MEEM 4403 – Computer-Aided Design Methods class. The competition will be comprised of two separate events: an (i) individual competition and (ii) a team competition. The individual competition will be based on the best work submitted by each student, from the entire semester. The team competition will be based on the final lab assignment: collaborative design and simulation of a mechanism.
Individual Competition
Each student will be allowed to submit one model representing his or her best work. The week before the competition, students will email to the T.A.:

(i) a screen capture of their model,
(ii) a one-line description, and
(iii) their part file.

For the individual competition, students must submit their entry to the T.A. by e-mail . The screen capture should present the model in its best light. The description should be brief and should make clear what the model represents.
The T.A. will forward the screen captures and descriptions as a single document to the PACE representative. On the day of the competition, each student will also need to have their model available for display to the judges. This competition will be based solely on the aesthetics and presentation of the model.

Team Competition
The project that comprises this competition is the culmination of lab assignments performed throughout the semester. This includes solid modeling, parametric modeling, assembly modeling, freeform surface modeling, top-down design using master models, and kinematic simulation. Each team will be judged on the criteria below. Attributes the judges will look for include innovation, creativity, success, functionality, and complexity.

1. 20% on quality of product design
2. 20% on quality of digital representation
3. 20% on quality of CAE Simulation
4. 20% on quality of presentation report (Effective and Impressive)
5. 20% on collaboration and teamwork

As discussed in the attached lab assignment, teams will be required to give a PowerPoint presentation to explain the design objectives, design features, features of the CAD model, and any issues related to working collaboratively on a team. The design itself must be presented using screen captures and/or animation. Teams should discuss their use of parametric modeling techniques. The motion analysis must be discussed with reference to animations and/or graphs.
On the day of the competition, during the regular class time, each team will make a 4-minute presentation to the judging panel on. Due to the short time allowed, the presentation must be well rehearsed. Each member of the team must contribute to the presentation. The team must cover each of the topics mentioned above and in the Lab Assignment.

Judging
Judges will include the following:
• Executives from GM, UGS, MSC.Software, and other PACE-related companies
• Former alums of MTU working in relevant positions at GM
• GM Content Experts from the area of the project
• GM Recruiting Team members
• The Course Instructor and Teaching Assistant

The panel of judges will recognize the winning individual and team on the day of the competition. These will both be announced at the end of the class. Each winner will receive a gift and a commendation certificate from the PACE Executive Sponsor Council. All materials and ideas submitted in this competition become the property of the PACE Office, and can be used for public relations and communications purposes or other purposes at the discretion of the PACE Partners.