EXTON, Pa. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — June 13, 2012 — Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure, today announced the winners in Bentley Institute’s 2012 Bentley Student Design Competition, sponsored by Be Careers Network, and named Dr. Guenter Maresch, professor, University of Salzburg and University of Education Salzburg, as Bentley Educator of the Year. The Student Design Competition awards technically advanced projects that were created, using Bentley software, by university, college, technical, and high school students around the world, and acknowledges the achievements of the students’ educators and mentors. The program fosters interest and growth in the architectural, engineering, construction (AEC), geospatial, and operations professions by encouraging students to explore the software and hone the skills they’ll need as future members of the infrastructure community. The Educator of the Year award recognizes a member of the academic community who has an outstanding record of achievement and is committed to inspiring students to pursue careers in the infrastructure professions.

In the 2012 Bentley Student Design Competition, individual students and student teams from 11 countries submitted 79 projects in various categories depending upon their level of education. University and community college students submitted projects in four categories: “Innovation in Architectural Design,” “Innovation in Road and Bridge Design,” “Innovation in GIS Implementation,” and “Innovation in Rendering and Animation.” High school and technical school students submitted projects in the “Design a Transportation Center” category.

The winning projects in this year’s competition are:

• Integrating Elemental Learning Elementary School, Morgan Danner and Desiree Edge, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., in the “Innovation in Architectural Design” category;
• Design of “Nowy Kleparz” Interchange, Tomasz Majkusiak and Micha Marek, AGH University of Science and Technology, Krackow, Poland, in the “Innovation in Road and Bridge Design” category;
• 3D Geospatial Database for Underground Pipelines, Suhaibah Azri and Uznir Ujang, Universiti of Teknologi, Malyasia, in the “Innovation in GIS Implementation” category;
• Leonardo da Vinci Project, Iris Chipchev and Lital Toren, Shenkar College, Ramat Gan, Israel, in the “Innovation in Rendering and Animation” category;
• Libman Airport, Jonathan Libman, Randolph High School, Randolph, N.J., in the “Design a Transportation Center” category.

The winning students and projects in the 2012 Student Design Competition will be recognized at their respective schools. Additionally, winners or winning teams will each receive a scholarship and handcrafted award to display at their schools, and be able to choose 10 seats of Bentley software – from the more than 50 products available through the Be Careers Network academic subscription – for use by their schools.

Scott Lofgren, Bentley global director, Be Careers Network, said, “I congratulate each of the winners in the 2012 Bentley Student Design Competition, and thank all of those who participated. We once again had a record number of designs submitted in our competition by students from schools around the world. Moreover, the designs submitted were particularly impressive and inspiring this year, making it hard for our panel of judges – comprising educational leaders and infrastructure professionals – to narrow down the field and select the winners. Such quality is surely a reflection of not only the students’ capabilities but also the work and dedication of their teachers, who keep them motivated and give their talent direction.

“We look forward to the day when these young people enter the infrastructure community as engineering professionals, ready to begin the important and rewarding work of sustaining infrastructure to improve the quality of life for people around the globe.”

Lofgren continued, “The Educator of the Year award is presented to an esteemed individual who is skillful in advancing student development. Dr. Maresch’s achievements in the development and international deployment of the e-Learning and Computer-Aided Design (ELCAD) program were recognized by the Austrian government and by the University of Rostock, in Germany, for dramatically improving students’ ability to learn. As one of the judges stated, ‘It’s difficult to establish one new program but Dr. Maresch has shown extraordinary skill in spreading his program to other countries.’ Dr. Maresch is making the world a better place as he shares his teaching philosophy with other educational institutions. I congratulate him for his achievements and wish him continued success for the future.”

Commenting on being named Educator of the Year, Dr. Maresch said, “I am truly honored and humbled to receive this distinguished award. Throughout my career I have focused my work on how it could make a difference in my students’ lives, and on preparing them for life as infrastructure professionals. I thank Bentley for recognizing my contributions with this award.

“I also thank Bentley for its support of my efforts working with students in Austria, Europe, and South Africa. Using MicroStation and other Bentley products in my program improves students’ spatial intelligence up to six times faster than is possible with traditional lessons and reinforces desired didactical concepts.”