Dysart Unified School District Receives In-Kind Software Grant from Siemens PLM Software Valued at $35 Million

Software Investment Helps Arizona Students Prepare for Future Careers.

PLANO, Texas, and PHOENIX – Siemens PLM Software, a division of the Siemens Industry Automation Division and a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, today announced an in-kind software grant with a commercial value of US$35 million to Dysart Unified School District to enrich their engineering curriculum and provide training for students preparing to enter the workforce.

Dysart Unified School District, one of the fastest growing school systems in Arizona, received the in-kind grant through the Siemens PLM Software’s GO PLM™ program. The grant includes engineering software, student/instructor training and a specialized certification program.

“Dysart Unified School District is tremendously thankful for this in-kind grant,” said Scott Thomas, M.Ed., CD, architecture teacher, Dysart Unified School District. “On behalf of Dysart Unified School District, I want to express sincere appreciation to Siemens PLM Software for providing this industry leading software to our academic institution. Innovative development combined with extensive industry experience incorporated over several decades has made their software a comprehensive product development tool. It is not only strong in advanced design capabilities, but also provides students with experience in the latest manufacturing technology and theory.

“Our design drafting classes will benefit significantly from using Siemens PLM Software in our courses, where students will be able to develop real-world products and gain the latest knowledge of PLM processes. We expect graduating students will have job opportunities and will be able to stay in Arizona,” added Thomas.

“As a high school student in the Signature Architecture Program in the Dysart Unified School District, I have the extraordinary opportunity to work with some of the world’s most advanced CAD software programs, such as Solid Edge® software from Siemens PLM Software,” said Dylan Martin, a Dysart Unified School District Architecture Program student. “I certainly will have obtained a vast amount of design drafting competencies, especially in Mechanical disciplines, through the use of Solid Edge and other Siemens PLM Software tools.”

“Today’s leading manufacturing and technology companies compete on the basis of time to market, product cost, quality and innovation,” said Dave Shirk, executive vice president, Global Marketing, Siemens PLM Software. “It’s quite clear that today’s best students in top programs, like the program at Dysart Unified School District, must have the opportunity to gain experience with technology that supports these objectives.”

GO PLM Program

Siemens PLM Software’s GO PLM™ initiative leads the industry in the commercial value of the in-kind grants it provides and brings together four complementary community involvement programs focused on academic partnership, regional productivity, youth and displaced worker development and the PACE (Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education) program. GO PLM provides PLM technology to more than 1,000,000 students yearly at nearly 10,200 global institutions, where it is used at every academic level – from middle schools to graduate engineering research programs.