Autodesk Student Engineering and Design Community Wins CODiE

Autodesk Inc. was presented April 17th with the Software & Information Industry Association's CODiE award for best postsecondary instruction solution, for the company’s Student Engineering and Design Community. The Web site is a free resource for students and faculty in engineering, architecture, design, gaming, and animation, offering free downloads of student editions of Autodesk 3D design software, tutorials, social networking, articles, shared work samples, a file and design library, job postings, curriculum, and more.

The site, launched this past September, already has more than 75,500 members. The most popular feature of the Student Engineering and Design Community is still free downloads of Autodesk's 3D software, such as Inventor, Revit, and Civil 3D. But students are also taking advantage of social networking features and other resources on the site designed both for learning and for connecting students with their chosen professional community. Shawn Conwell, a student at Ohio State University's Knowlton School of Architecture says, "I know architecture firms are looking for graduates who know Revit, the 3D building information modeling software tool from Autodesk. I think it's great that Autodesk is helping struggling college students have access to the tools we need to compete for today's jobs." 

Autodesk has 33 staff working on the Student Engineering and Design Community, and is committed to its future development. Student Community Website Manager Kathleen O'Sullivan says, "We are very proud of how quickly the Student Engineering and Design Community has gained momentum and recognition worldwide in just seven months. We monitor user feedback closely, and are planning many enhancements to make the site even more valuable to students and educators in the coming year."

Among the planned enhancements are an improved job and internship search function, profiles of Autodesk's commercial customers, more shared experiences from student interns, more project-based design competitions, Web casts and virtual seminars, and mentoring opportunities from Autodesk's commercial customers.

Featured

  • geometric pattern features abstract icons of a dollar sign, graduation cap, and document

    Maricopa Community Colleges Adopts Platform to Combat Student Application Fraud

    In an effort to secure its admissions and financial processes, Maricopa Community Colleges has partnered with A.M. Simpkins and Associates (AMSA) to implement the company's S.A.F.E (Student Application Fraudulent Examination) across the district's 10 institutions.

  • stylized figures, resumes, a graduation cap, and a laptop interconnected with geometric shapes

    OpenAI to Launch AI-Powered Jobs Platform

    OpenAI announced it will launch an AI-powered hiring platform by mid-2026, directly competing with LinkedIn and Indeed in the professional networking and recruitment space. The company announced the initiative alongside an expanded certification program designed to verify AI skills for job seekers.

  • Abstract AI circuit board pattern

    New Nonprofit to Work Toward Safer, Truthful AI

    Turing Award-winning AI researcher Yoshua Bengio has launched LawZero, a new nonprofit aimed at developing AI systems that prioritize safety and truthfulness over autonomy.

  • hooded figure types on a laptop, with abstract manifesto-like posters taped to the wall behind them

    Hacktivism Is a Growing Threat to Higher Education

    In recent years, colleges and universities have faced an evolving array of cybersecurity challenges. But one threat is showing signs of becoming both more frequent and more politically charged: hacktivism.