If you are a researcher in the College of Engineering you have access to many IT resources and services to help you succeed. This site should give you an idea of the resources and services available. If you don’t see what you need, send us a message. Send inquiriies to engr-research-it@iastate.edu
Software
Engineering absolutely depends on software. From commercial CAD and Engineering analysis, to open source software tools and libraries, there are many software options available.
Commercial Engineering Tools
The College purchases many commercial Engineering packages that can be used by researchers for academic use. In general, the software cannot be used on “for profit” work, and must be related to publishable research being done in the College of Engineering.
CAD Software
| Name | Description | Windows | Mac | Linux |
| AutoCAD | Computer-aided Design | Y | N | N |
| MasterCAM | Computer-aided Design | Y | N | N |
Mathematics
| Name | Description | Windows | Mac | Linux |
| Mathematica | Mathematics | Y | Y | Y |
| Matlab | Mathematics and simulation | Y | Y | Y |
Fluids and Structures
| Name | Description | Windows | Mac | Linux |
| Abaqus | Structural Mechanics | Y | N | Y |
| ANSYS | Computational Fluid Dynamics, Finite Element Analysis | Y | N | Y |
| COMSOL | Multiphysics | Y | Y | Y |
| STAR-CCM+ | Computational FLuid Dynamics | Y | N | Y |
Electronics and Chip Design
| Name | Description | Windows | Mac | Linux |
| ANSYS Electronics Desktop | RF, Antenna design | Y | N | Y |
| Cadence | Chip Design | N | N | Y |
Open Source Software
The College maintains several well-known open source Engineering tools. All of this software is available on the HPC clusters.
| Name | Description | Windows | Mac | Linux |
| OpenFOAM | CFD modeling and simulation | Y | Y | Y |
| OpenMDAO | AERE Design Optimization | Y | Y | Y |
| SU2 | CFD and Design Optimization | Y | Y | Y |
High Performance Computing
There are two on-campus HPC clusters available to researchers. The Nova cluster has the newest and fastest equipment. Users on Nova must purchase an allocation of hardware (both computation and storage). The Condo cluster is somewhat older hardware but users can request a free allocation for modest computational needs. For more details on Nova purchase costs as well as overall cluster usage, see https://www.hpc.iastate.edu.
Engineering-related software titles available on the HPC clusters including Abaqus, ANSYS (Fluent and Ansys Mechanical), Matlab (including Parallel Server), COMSOL, STAR-CCM+, plus a large number of open source software such as OpenFOAM, SU2, GAMS, OpenMDAO, and many many others. HPC staff can assist with building and preparing software as needed.
System Installation and Configuration
Despite the variety of available systems in the College, some researchers will need to run their own systems. IT staff in the College have experience installing many different operating systems and computer hardware variations . Most importantly, IT staff can ensure that systems are configured to use campus infrastructure correctly and that systems are able to get timely software updates. Contact your departmental IT staff for more information.