University Students Worldwide Strive to Enhance Products from Wheels to Golf Clubs in Altair International Student Challenge

TROY, Mich., Oct. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Students from universities across the globe will recommend ways to improve the products consumers use every day—from sporting goods to automotive components—as they participate in the Altair International Simulation-Driven Design Challenge over the next four months. They will compete for thousands of dollars in prizes and travel to any of several countries in North America, Europe and Asia.  Registration is free and students wishing to compete can learn more and join the competition by visiting www.altairuniversity.com/challenge.

Sponsored by Altair and employing HyperWorks, one of the world's most popular software suites for computer simulation and analysis, the competition asks students to re-design or re-engineer an everyday object of their choice to improve its ergonomics, weight, durability, functionality, manufacturability and/or sustainability. They will use HyperWorks simulation tools in seeking to develop designs that are better and more innovative than the original.

"Altair has conducted similar local contests in such regions as India, China and Korea, but this is Altair's first worldwide competition of this type," said Altair Business Development Director of Academic Markets Dr. Matthias Goelke. "Student winners and all others who have entered locally are eligible for the international challenge, as are students in countries like the U.S., U.K. and Germany where this competition is new. Students anywhere can submit a project they have developed in their classes, in a previous Altair competition or as part of an entirely different course of study. Our objective is ultimately to incorporate this competition into university curricula."

The contest is open to college and university students globally who are at least 18 years old at the time of entry. Applicants may submit entries as individuals or as two-person teams, with an optional mentor. Entries must be received by Jan. 31, 2014 and may be submitted online.

Students are not expected to spend the four months between now and the deadline working on their projects. The redesign may take only a few weeks or a few days; the deadline has been set to allow students ample opportunity to work on projects in their spare time or as part of university coursework.

The winning individual or team will be invited to present their project at an Altair Technology Conference of their choice in the U.S., Europe, India, China, Malaysia, Korea or Japan. Altair will award the student(s) free admission to the conference, airfare, hotel accommodations, and meals. Additionally, each member of the winning team will receive a cash award of $2,000 USD.

Second prize is $2,000 USD, to be divided equally among team members, and third prize is $1,000 USD to be split by the team. Each of the top 20 entrants also will receive an e-book reader from Altair. The top three entries will be published in a special edition of Concept to Reality, Altair's magazine for the engineering community. Entrants retain all rights to their work beyond allowing Altair to publicize their projects.

Students should register at www.altairuniversity.com/challenge-form. The free registration requires a brief summary (up to 250 words) of the intended scope of work. Altair will review the proposed projects and provide accepted entrants with the ability to download the full commercial version of HyperWorks, giving them a three-month license for academic use. Submissions should include the digital design files, a case study summarizing the entrant's work, a tutorial showing the methodology and reasoning used, and an optional video of up to five minutes explaining or demonstrating the project.

Judges will evaluate the projects on a number of criteria, including 1) innovation, creativity, sustainability, social impact and technical relevance of the study; 2) analysis, accuracy and methods in using HyperWorks; 3) case study content; and 4) effectiveness of the tutorial, including an online live presentation to the judges for the top 20 finalists. Winners will be announced on April 11, 2014.

For more information on the competition and to monitor its progress during the entry period, visit the Altair Academic Blog at www.altairuniversity.com.

About Altair
Altair empowers client innovation and decision-making through technology that optimizes the analysis, management and visualization of business and engineering information. Privately held, with 2,000 employees, Altair has offices throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. With a 28-year track record for high-end software for engineering and computing, enterprise analytics solutions, and innovative product design and development, Altair consistently delivers a competitive advantage to customers in a broad range of industries. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com.

SOURCE Altair