UNLV students in the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering will soon have a new laboratory equipped with the very latest digital and logic synthesis design software.
According to Henry Selvaraj, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, the new Aldec Digital Design and Processing Laboratory will sport 12 computer work stations, thanks to generous donations from Aldec, Inc. and matching funds provided by UNLV.
Aldec, Inc., a Henderson-based international software company, made a contribution of over $50,000 to acquire Gateway personal computers and also provided software for use on the equipment. Aldec founder and president Stanley Hyduke strongly believes that the university's students should have the most advanced and best tools available to learn their professions.
"Aldec is committed to the education of today's students. We feel that the seeds we help plant today may grow into the new breed of engineers tomorrow. That is why we are happy to help open the Aldec Lab at UNLV," said Hyduke.
Hyduke founded Aldec in 1984 to pursue incremental-compilation-based electronic design automation (EDA) tools. Over the years, Aldec has become one of the strongest and most dependable EDA tools developers in the world. Over 80 percent of the employees have advanced engineering and computer science degrees.
Because of the company's preoccupation with product innovation and performance, there is a long product pipeline that will provide highly advanced tools in the future. In an ongoing effort to help educate the engineers of the future, Aldec offers all accredited worldwide educational institutions unlimited access to its tools and textbooks. There is no charge the first year and a nominal administration fee thereafter. Aldec has placed over 3,000 licenses of its tools in universities throughout the world and considers it a great honor to be a contributing force in the education of today's students.
"We are extremely grateful to Mr. Hyduke and Aldec for taking a long-term interest in helping electrical and computer engineering students," said Selvaraj. "Our students will be very fortunate to be able to learn by using this high quality equipment and the Aldec software is the most sophisticated and advanced available."
Aldec has also indicated an interest in participating in future UNLV teaching and research projects and may offer student internships. Future project support is being considered for digital design and logic synthesis in general, and Aldec's specialty, VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language), in particular.
"Corporate support like the outstanding new partnership offered by Aldec, Inc. is extremely important to the enhancement of learning facilities and opportunities at UNLV," said Bill Wells, dean of the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering. "Most importantly, Aldec is the international leader in their field and they have generously offered to help our students attain the same level of success."
