Frequently Asked Questions

$30,000 (non-overheaded, since BYU has agreed to pay the overhead!)

So that more industrial members will freely involve themselves in the development of new multi-user technologies without budget being the overriding concern. We need focus, innovation, participation, and direction.

The fees are paid annually, but the member should commit to the Center for the full five year Center duration. Nevertheless, any member can withdraw from the Center after 90 days written notice.

It is not unusual for a company to have several memberships to help guide research in more specific areas of interest to the company. Generally, these memberships may come from separate organizations within the company.

Either you or your rep attend two Center meetings per year, physically or virtually; to assist in defining and reviewing R&D related to new CAx application software and related processes; to provide graduate students exposure to current collaborative methods within your company, identifying potential test cases for new multi-user CAx applications; to work cooperatively with other member companies and Center institutions; to advance the state-of-the-art in multi-user computer-aided applications, for the benefit of all.

There will be time required to review and approve annual R&D projects. The time you ultimately spend following the R&D will be up to you. The v-CAx site will implement e-documentation and e-reporting methods that will allow you to follow the progress of your favorite projects on a periodic basis and also allow you to provide questions and comments to the R&D group and its personnel.

The Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) is the cooperating industry group that provides industry oversight of the Center R&D and related activities. It is comprised of one industry representative per paid membership; thus, a company can have multiple members on the IAB. The board chairperson, elected by the board members, generally serves for a two period.

Your fees will fund R&D at the specific site university from which you were solicited. There is little or no overhead burden on your fees, by arrangement between the university and NSF. Your fees will be primarily used to support student researchers. Funds from the NSF I/UCRC budget offices will support v-CAx administrative functions.

The products (software, publications, etc.) are available for internal, non-exclusive and royalty-free use to all Center for e-Design and v-CAx industrial members, based on their membership duration as matched to the period in which the product was developed. To gain access to a product the member company must have been active during the development period leading to the formal product release. See the bylaws for more detail about commercial licensing and external distribution. The IAB will help define the rules for access to products.

The Center for e-Design is the umbrella Center for v-CAx activities. BYU is charged with R&D related to converting CAx applications to multi-user. Other e-Design activities and site universities are engaged in the infrastructure required to make product design data more transparent and portable for companies that conduct global product development. v-CAx research is focussed on collapsing the serial activities and organizations used in the Engineering Design Process, although we foresee that much of our research could be ported to other application environments where single user applications dominate.

By internships directed towards multi-user CAx and through project oversight.

Yes, you can, but a separate R&D contract must be negotiated with the university. Annual membership fees cannot be used for company specific projects.

Generally the Center will propose a set of R&D projects, based on SOTA reviews and prior interaction with the industrial members. Proposed projects will be presented and reviewed at the Annual Planning Meeting, with project goals, description, schedule, deliverables, personnel, and budget well defined. All Center participants (faculty and industry members) will then prioritize and modify, as necessary, the projects, with final approval. Approved projects will then be further approved by the Center for e-Design and NSF. Projects may extend for more than one year.

Interfaces and extensive website materials will be available for all members to virtually stay updated with Center activities. Virtual planning meetings will be conducted in parallel with the physical planning meetings to accommodate those with restricted travel budgets or time. Nevertheless, it is highly desirable for industrial members to attend physically at least one Center meeting for planning efficiencies, and to improve networking among the Center participants.

The Center for e-Design is the umbrella Center for v-CAx activities. As a Center site BYU is charged with R&D related to converting CAx applications to multi-user. Other e-Design activities and site universities are engaged in the infrastructure required to make product design data more transparent and portable for companies that conduct global product development.

Considering the pending site universities there are 7 site universities involved. BYU is focusing on making computer-aided applications multi-user, whereas the other site universities are currently interested in making product data more transparent and portable.

Any industry or government member of a site university has equal rights to all Center for e-Design "products".

It takes money to pay students to conduct proper R&D. If the research is important to your organization, then additional fees to that site will enable the work to get done, while reflecting your critical directions.