MINNEAPOLIS, December 16, 2009 – EAC Product Development Solutions (EAC), a global provider of engineering products and services, today announced it helped facilitate a Hands-on Workshop for southern Minnesota participants of the FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge.

Reaching more than 150,000 students in grades K-12 annually, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) has designed accessible, innovative mentor-based programs that build science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills. EAC sponsors several FIRST teams, and offers professionals to help the students learn the engineering technology to build and participate in the annual competitions.

PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC), the Product Development Company, provides Pro/ENGINEER and other software and services to FIRST teams. Each year, the teams are given a different challenge to design, build, and program robots. The Hands-on Workshop was organized to help students better understand the fundamentals of virtual prototyping. The workshop used curriculum created by PTC, and allowed students and mentors the opportunity to put into practice the principles they were learning. 

“The curriculum is challenging, but the technology we teach offers the students a skill set to develop a feasible robot structure early in the design phase,” said Allen Caldwell, Project Engineer at EAC Product Development Solutions. “The FIRST program is about inspiring passion for science and technology. When the students gain tangible skills that help them improve their competitive edge, we see passion shining through.”

About EAC Product Development Solutions
EAC is a complete source for product development solutions for the manufacturing, engineering and design industries. EAC offers software, consulting, training, hardware, implementation and engineering services, addressing all aspects of the product development process. EAC is committed to helping companies leverage proven technologies and practices to become more efficient and competitive in the global marketplace. For more information on EAC, please visit http://www.eacpds.com