The Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, dedicated to developing the “21st-century engineer” at no cost to its students, has selected SolidWorks® software as one of its primary three-dimensional computer-aided design (3D CAD) software packages. Olin’s first freshman class – drawn from an elite applicant group whose members turned down offers from top engineering schools – has been using SolidWorks since the first week of September to design their inventions, including miniature race cars, kinetic sculptures, and products for a national mechanical engineering contest.
The school, based in Needham, Mass., has purchased 80 licenses of SolidWorks software, enough for each student. This number will grow along with the new school, whose enrollment is expected to reach 650 over the next several years. SolidWorks supports a key tenet of Olin’s curriculum, which is to help students work on real-world examples and projects from day one. Very often, engineering schools require two years of theoretical math and science studies before giving students design projects their junior and senior years.
During the fall semester, students were able to easily master the software using the provided tutorials. They then used it for a wide variety of projects, such as designing a 3D steam engine model, designing 3D models of water rockets, and creating compressed-nitrogen powered dragster models. The assignments were part of “cohort” learning at the college, an innovative curricular approach in which study in two subject areas is combined with a hands-on project that ties them together.
Olin College’s curriculum answers long-standing calls from accrediting agencies, corporate leaders, and the National Science Foundation to align engineering education with the real-world needs of business and industry. The school stresses hands-on experience, collaboration, entrepreneurial savvy, and exposure to the liberal arts. Olin officially opened its doors in August 2002 after a year in which pre-freshman student “partners” helped develop the curriculum, honor code, and other institutional pillars. Each Olin student receives a full tuition and room scholarship made possible by the college’s $400 million commitment from the F.W. Olin Foundation. Full tuition for all Olin students will continue in perpetuity.
CADD Edge, an authorized SolidWorks reseller, is providing ongoing software support and training to Olin College faculty and staff.
