Ivy Tech and Commonwealth Partner for Student Opportunities

Pictured above, Commonwealth Designer and CAD Manager Josh Wheatley attended the State House for a Day to speak to State Legislators and other partners about Ivy Tech’s commitment to meeting the needs of local businesses. 

Over the last few years, Commonwealth Engineers, Inc. (Commonwealth) has partnered with Ivy Tech Community College’s main campus in downtown Indianapolis to provide students with community and work experiences that will help them grow professionally and give them opportunities to give back to the Indiana communities in which they live and work.

Currently, Commonwealth provides student internships, hosts mock interviews with Ivy Tech design students, and provides design program materials to use as projects in the classrooms and labs. Additionally, Josh Wheatley has been named the Ivy Tech Design Program’s Advisory Chair. With Ivy Tech campuses all over Indiana, Commonwealth is excited to be a part of such a valuable program for Engineering Design students throughout the State.

Announcing an Indiana Statewide Competition for Ivy Tech Students

Design for Industry (D4I) Challenge

Autodesk has launched a 2019 D4I Challenge Indiana statewide competition for Ivy Tech Students.

This competition is a collaboration between Autodesk, Ivy Tech, and Commonwealth Engineers along with a non-profit that works in Haiti to build homes.

Student competitors are to design a human-powered compressed earth block machine using Fusion 360 (an Autodesk Product). Students will have from January 22nd through March 29th to design their project. Projects will be judged by a panel of Commonwealth Engineers, Architects, Autodesk experts, and teachers. Cash prizes are awarded at the end of the challenge/semester.

This opportunity is unique in that competitions like these are usually reserved for large global companies and universities. Autodesk has partnered with approximately 30 colleges and universities nationwide including Stanford, MIT, and UC Berkley. Ivy Tech is one of only three community colleges officially partnered with Autodesk, and was the first community college to be included in the group!

Design for Industry (or “D4I”) is a series of student design challenges run by Autodesk since the Spring of 2016. Each challenge features a partner company that proposes a real-world engineering or design problem for students to solve. In the process, students get feedback about their design ideas during the design creation period and on their final submissions. Students gain valuable insight from the partner about what’s important in their industry and on what will make a strong portfolio piece when applying for jobs, internships, and apprenticeships.

Autodesk supports the D4I competitions through live webinars, in-person CAD training, online videos, and free software for students. Internships and jobs have been offered to winners after D4I competitions on a case by case basis.

Commonwealth Engineers is proud to be recognized as an industry leader by Autodesk, and join companies such as NASA, Mercedes AMG & Nissan Motors, GE Appliances, Airbus Foundation, European Space Agency, and many more who have become partners in D4I Competitions! 

Click Here to Visit the D4I Competition Guidelines & Prize Information