Rita Jane Schnipke

About

After receiving my PhD at UVA, I worked with a venture capitalist to start an engineering software business. After the venture capitalist sold that company to Ansys Inc, I started another engineering software business (Blue Ridge Numerics Inc) with a business partner. That company grew to 100 employees and 10 offices worldwide. Our software product, CFDesign was recognized as the premier product for upfront simulation in the design process. CFDesign was an integral part of the design process in over 1500 companies worldwide. The companies spanned the industry segments: aerospace, architecture, automotive, consumer products, data centers, electronics cooling, industrial flow control, manufacturing processes, medical devices, turbomachinery and water quality. Blue Ridge Numerics Inc was sold to Autodesk Inc in 2011. The CFDesign software is now the flagship CFD software sold by Autodesk Inc, Autodesk CFD. At UVA, my goal is to share my experience in the design process and my expertise in applying simulation techniques to this process to upcoming engineers.