PTC and Motorola Provide College Students with Real-World Engineering Experience

"Flip for Design" Competition Introduces Students to Product Design with Leading 3-D Design Tools

NEEDHAM, Mass., June 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PTC (NASDAQ:PMTC), the product development company(TM), and Motorola today announced that students from Monroe County Community College near Detroit won the $10,000 prize for Best Overall Design in the "Flip for Design" national engineering competition, while teams from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Carnegie Mellon University and the Georgia Institute of Technology placed first in their respective categories.

The winning team from two-year, publicly funded Monroe County Community College was comprised of four Michigan residents: Patrick C. Gill of Palmyra, Keith Albright of Carlton, Tina Burke of Monroe, and Tim Peirce of Blissfield. Their "Flip for Design" competition entry was a flip-style personal digital assistant (PDA) with a built-in cell phone and wireless short-range networking.

"Personal digital assistants can have a huge impact on the way people live, so we wanted our product to serve as a platform for many different uses," said Tina Burke of the Monroe County Community College Team. "Our design combined a cell phone with wireless Internet access in a single unit that feels comfortable in your hand. We envision adding games, a camera and other capabilities that no one has even thought of yet. Also, the unique trackball and directional button interface could make text messaging and data entry much faster than the traditional keypad methods used in current designs."

PTC's and Motorola's "Flip for Design" competition was designed to give teams of ambitious students real-world engineering experience as they build new ideas around Motorola's successful MicroTAC "flip phone." The competition was conducted as part of PTC's Partnership for Innovative Learning program, an initiative that helps educators prepare today's students to be the innovators of tomorrow.

"The students generated terrific, fresh ideas that our staff engineers will evaluate carefully," said Scott Durchslag, corporate vice president and director of strategy and business development for Motorola's Personal Communications Sector. "These student engineers are consumers as well as future designers, and that makes their insights especially useful."

John Stuart, senior vice president of education and community relations at PTC, said, "Just as companies are defined by their products, engineers are defined by their ideas. The outstanding competition entries we received show that industry can look forward to the contributions of a talented pool of young engineers who will develop groundbreaking new products."

Teams comprised of two to four students from throughout the country submitted designs for a new pocket-sized communications device based on a variety of design criteria.

Students designed their entries on PTC(R) Pro/ENGINEER(R) or Pro/DESKTOP(R) software, working collaboratively with one another through PTC's Web-based virtual workspace, Pro/COLLABORATE(TM). Judges included representatives from PTC and Motorola, editors of industry publications and other leaders in the product development industry.

In colleges and universities, the Partnership for Innovative Learning provides software, resources and training that empower students and companies to achieve the highest levels of success in product development careers. As part of the initiative, PTC provides educators with its Pro/DESKTOP(R) and Pro/ENGINEER(R) design software, affordable teacher training, instructional materials and other resources that are often too costly for school systems and institutions of higher education.

Each finalist team member received a $500 gift certificate; a Motorola personal communication device; PTC's Pro/ENGINEER(R) and Pro/MECHANICA(R) software student editions; and a weekend trip to Walt Disney World(R) to attend the award ceremony. Sponsoring professors of the winning teams also received gift certificates to purchase equipment for their classrooms. The category winners included:

- - Technical Merit: University of Massachusetts, Amherst -- Paul Witherell, Raynham, Mass.; Travis Dane, Greenfield, Mass.; Jay Robbins, Pittsfield, Mass.; Alex Brown, Morristown, N.J. The team designed a flip-phone with a hinge that can withstand damage from a 5-foot drop and 100,000 openings.

- - Creativity: Carnegie Mellon University -- Susan Eitelman, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Mary Berna, Oakmont, Pa.; Hans Mueller, Salem, Ore.; Punit Ahluwalia, Pittsburgh, Pa. The team designed a compact cell phone with a bowtie hinge that allows the user to open the two halves of the phone to any angle.

- - Comprehensive Use of PTC's Products: Monroe County Community College -- Patrick C. Gill, Palmyra, Mich.; Keith Albright, Carlton, Mich.; Tina Burke, Monroe, Mich.; Tim Peirce, Blissfield, Mich. See description of their entry above.

- - Benefits for Motorola: Georgia Institute of Technology -- Neil Saunders, Atlanta, Ga.; Anish Buch, Atlanta, Ga. The team designed a cell phone with a helical torsion spring that allows the phone to be opened with one hand to improve convenience and safety of cell phone use.

To see the winning "Flip for Design" entries, go to www.ptc.com/go/competition

About PTC

PTC (NASDAQ:PMTC) develops, markets, and supports software solutions that help manufacturers get superior products to market before their competitors. PTC is the world's largest software company with a total commitment to product development. The company services more than 33,000 customers worldwide. 

www.ptc.com

PTC's Partnership for Innovative Learning is helping educators design an entirely new approach to teaching students how to think, create and collaborate in 3D.

About Motorola

Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT) is a global leader in providing integrated communications and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 2001 were $30 billion.

www.motorola.com

 

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