AURORA—Marmion Academy instructor Dr. Victor Pinks, II, created the Computational Prototyping and Research Center (CPARC) in 2013 to help students gain experience using virtual prototypes. 

 

Now, nine years later, the research center will receive a major boost through a $100,000 grant from the software company Dassault Systèmes. 

 

CPARC uses SIMULIA Computer Assisted Engineering (CAE) tools and is centered on gaining knowledge and experience working with models for businesses. Its curriculum constantly evolves. 

 

Since its founding, CPARC has bridged traditional education at Marmion Academy with new teaching models and real-world business project work, preparing its students for a future in Computer Assisted Engineering. After graduating, many students are offered internships and sometimes even positions with the companies they worked with at Marmion. 

 

The $100,000 grant will be used to increase the business throughput capacity of CPARC. This will allow the students to work with greater processing speeds — a necessity in highly demanding projects. 

 

Currently CPARC operates several high-core-count workstations in addition to pre-flight stations. Supercomputing for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations will become available this fall.

 

Through the research center’s partnerships with many small local businesses, federal agencies, aerospace companies, defense organizations, and more, Marmion students are exposed to real-world workplace engineering challenges. 

 

These students collaborate with CPARC science advisors and company decision makers. Teams are co-led by Marmion’s CSWA/CSWP certified SolidWorks students who work as adjunct business interns for

 company engineers and decision makers. 

 

The program’s curriculum also covers soft skills development, giving students an edge even for work outside of engineering.

 

Sample simulations can be viewed on the “Marmion CPARC” YouTube channel. 

 

—Information provided by Dr. Victor Pinks, II, and Terri Rios.