Head of Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing Visits ODU Engineering
July 02, 2014
Dean Oktay Baysal with Joseph Moody, President and CEO of CCAM
The seeds of a fruitful partnership were planted last year when Old Dominion University began discussions with the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM), seeking to become its fourth university partner.
The agreement was finalized in early 2014, and has already led to significant partnerships for research and training of the next generation of Virginia's skilled workers. A $746 million, in-kind grant from software from tech giant Siemens flowed through CCAM to ODU in early June.
With significant momentum behind the new alliance, new CCAM President and Executive Director Joseph F. Moody visited ODU on Wednesday, July 2.
Moody was given a tour of ODU's new Engineering Systems Building, which opened last month, and Oktay Baysal, dean of the Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology, gave a presentation to the visitor about the multidisciplinary engineering research and teaching initiatives that ODU conducts.
"This is a very exciting time for ODU engineering. We feel like the new partnership with CCAM will pay off in significant ways for both entities," Baysal said.
The Siemens gift is the largest tangible proof of this partnership to date. The grant from Siemens PLM Software provides state-of-practice software for managing every aspect of product information from its development, design and manufacturing, to its support and maintenance.
The grant will support the Batten College in its strategic initiative in the area of advanced manufacturing, with a focus on digital manufacturing, design innovation and entrepreneurship, and product lifecycle management (PLM).
The in-kind academic grant from Siemens PLM Software was announced at an event on June 4 at CCAM headquarters in Prince George County, along with in-kind grants to other Virginia colleges and universities.
Old Dominion University joined CCAM in January as an academic member, providing leadership and research expertise in surface engineering and digital manufacturing. ODU also provides workforce training and academic support for three major corporations with local presence - Newport News Shipbuilding, Canon and Siemens - which are already industrial members of CCAM.
"This partnership will open new opportunities for fundamental and applied research by building on ODU's current strengths in product lifecycle management, manufacturing and marine engineering, modeling and simulation, visualization, cyber-security, data-mining and knowledge management," said Mileta Tomovic, chair of ODU's Department of Engineering Technology, and a member of the CCAM advisory committee.
Old Dominion's modeling and simulation expertise will be extremely valuable to CCAM research. John Sokolowski, executive director of ODU's Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center, was appointed in January to the CCAM Industrial Operations Board. On his visit to Hampton Roads, Moody also toured the VMASC facility in Suffolk.
Krzysztof Rechowicz, research associate professor at VMASC, is stationed at the center's Prince George County headquarters, as well.
Moody has held top engineering and senior leadership positions in the automotive, oil and gas, and mining and exploration industries.
He received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Kettering University and his M.B.A. from the University of Michigan.
CCAM is an applied research center in Prince George County that provides advanced manufacturing solutions to member companies around the world. CCAM industry and government members include Canon Virginia Inc., Newport News Shipbuilding, Rolls-Royce and NASA Langley Research Center. In addition to ODU, CCAM's academic partners are the University of Virginia, Virginia State University and Virginia Tech.