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PACE Program

Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering, PACE, is an exciting opportunity for Rensselaer. It is a consortium of companies (GM, EDS, Sun Microsystems and UGS) that support strategically selected academic institutions. There are currently approximately 25 PACE institutions world-wide including Virginia Tech, BYU, Purdue, and MIT.

PACE provides hardware and software (life-cycle managment (PLM) software tools) in the interest of developing the next generation of automotive engineers, designers, and managers.

The initial contribution is the largest in PACE history and the largest in-kind contribution in the school's history. Read more about the contribution in this article: $514 Million PACE Contribution to Rensselaer Provides Comprehensive Design Tools.

About PACE

Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE) links GM, EDS, Sun Microsystems, and UGS that supports strategically selected academic institutions worldwide, to develop the product lifecycle management (PLM) team of the future. PLM, as it relates to PACE, is an integrated, parametrics-based approach to all aspects of a product’s life — from its design inception, through its manufacture, marketing, distribution, and maintenance, and finally into recycling and disposal. Currently, PACE is focused on:

  • Requirements and planning (concept development)
  • Styling (conceptualization)
  • Product engineering (detailed design)
  • Simulation (validation, optimization)
  • Manufacturing engineering (tooling, machining, 3-D plant layout)
  • Managed development environment (product data management, supply chain management, digital collaboration)
PACE project at the Design Lab

Rensselaer's PACE proposal was preceded by an MDL project to design a "Gen-Y" feature package for the Saturn Ion. The project, in which over 40 students participated from five departments in 2003/4, was a huge success. But, we were stifled by a lack of analytical tools. This led to a request for proposal to become a PACE institution.

Students used their engineering expertise—along with their first-hand knowledge of the “Generation Y” consumer—to help design a customized version of the Saturn Ion Quad Coupe.

Selected universities are invited to participate based on several criteria, including: a long-term relationship with GM as a primary educational partner and a strong recruiting relationship; strength in design, engineering, and manufacturing; and the institution’s current and intended interest in developing curricula using PACE products and processes. For more information, check out the PACE Web site: www.pacepartners.org.

Last Updated (Friday, 28 August 2009)