UB to Offer New Certification Course for Professionals who Develop New Products

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo will offer a new certification course this fall for professionals engaged in developing new products and services.

The course, dubbed the Knowledge-Driven New Product Development (KD-NPD) certification program, is targeted at engineering managers, designers, department supervisors, senior managers, presidents and people who want to better leverage information technology to support product development.

The course, which aims to enable future innovation, will be offered through UB TCIE and the New York State Center for Engineering Design and Industrial Innovation (NYSCEDII). Both are part of UB's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

"Each stage of new product development generates large amounts of new information and knowledge," said Andrew Olewnik, PhD, NYSCEDII research associate. "Retaining that knowledge for integration in future developments requires a vision for implementing knowledge-driven new product development."

Olewnik, who develops and implements product development processes for industry, will facilitate the course with Kenneth English, PhD, deputy director at NYSCEDII. English has specialized in researching and implementing information technology in engineering design for more than a decade.

The course will be held on three consecutive Wednesdays -- Sept. 12, 19 and 26 -- from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at UB's Baird Research Park, 1576 Sweet Home Road, Amherst.

It will focus on three elements: measuring innovation, information technology-enabled design, and systems-level thinking. Participants will explore the concepts through group breakout sessions and activities. They also will develop a vision statement for their own firm that will be reviewed during a one-on-one session with the instructors after the September classes. Instructors will certify the participants after their feedback is integrated into the statement.

For more information or to register, contact Kerry Lynch at 716-645-8840 or klynch4@buffalo.edu. Please register by Sept. 5.

TCIE is Western New York's bridge to excellence. It provides a dynamic link between UB's expert resources and the region's business community. Its core focus on operational excellence drives continuous improvement, and its engineering solutions ignite innovation and technological advancement. For more information on how TCIE can assist Western New York businesses, go to http://www.tcie.buffalo.edu or call 716-645-8800.

NYSCEDII was established in 2000 at UB as a major center for engineering design to provide companies throughout New York State with a significant competitive advantage in high-tech product development. Its mission is to develop next-generation design, manufacturing, product and process development tools that best exploit new information, visualization, and simulation technologies for the benefit of the industrial base of New York State.