The MathWorks Sponsors Engineering Leadership Competition in FutureTruck 2002

    NATICK, Mass.--May 20, 2002--

    Hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy and Ford Motor Company,
    Program Challenges Engineering Students to Make Today's SUV a
    "Greener" Mode of Transportation

    The MathWorks, Inc. today announced it is a corporate sponsor of FutureTruck 2002, a unique automotive engineering competition among 15 university engineering departments. In FutureTruck 2002, each university team must re-engineer a mid-size Ford Explorer to achieve lower emissions and higher fuel economy, while retaining the vehicle's utility, affordability and customer appeal.
    The students' FutureTruck vehicles will be judged at a series of events that evaluate technical performance and static design. In an effort to encourage teams to develop technologies that reduce total cycle greenhouse gas emissions, FutureTruck also includes an event that measures "upstream fuel-cycle emissions," caused during the production and delivery of a fuel, and dynamometer emissions measurements.
    In addition to a monetary donation to the program, The MathWorks has donated a selection of its MATLAB(R) and Simulink(R)-based software products to each of the participating schools. The company will also send automotive engineers to judge the overall competition, and sponsor a special "Leadership and Teamwork" Award to recognize the efforts of an individual or team that best exemplifies the ability to move forward despite design obstacles and challenges.
    "Future Truck is aligned with The MathWorks commitment to education and innovation," said Liz Callanan, manager of Community Relations and Public Relations, The MathWorks. "We are glad that MATLAB and Simulink can help both students and the automotive industry as a whole to discover effective and sustainable environmental solutions."
    Scheduled for June 11-21, 2002, the FutureTruck judging events will be held at Ford's Arizona Proving Ground in Yucca, AZ, the California Air Resources Board in El Monte and the California Motor Speedway in Fontana after which time, all student teams will travel to Los Angeles for a vehicle display and awards ceremony.

    About The MathWorks

    The MathWorks is the world's leading developer of technical computing software for engineers and scientists in industry, government, and education. With an extensive product set based on MATLAB(R) and Simulink(R), The MathWorks provides software and services to solve challenging problems and accelerate innovation in automotive, aerospace, communications, financial services, biotechnology, electronics, instrumentation, process, and other industries. The MathWorks was founded in 1984 and employs over 1000 people worldwide, with headquarters in Natick, Massachusetts. For additional information, visit www.mathworks.com.

    MATLAB, Simulink and Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder are registered trademarks of The MathWorks, Inc.