Mastercam partners with NASA HUNCH program

CNC Software Inc., Tolland, Conn., developer of Mastercam CAD/CAM software, is partnering with NASA's program High Schools United With NASA to Create Hardware, or HUNCH. It is an effort to bring high school students new educational experiences with NASA projects. CNC Software, Inc. will be providing licenses of Mastercam to select schools to use, as long as they are participating in the NASA HUNCH program. While there are about 150 schools participating in NASA HUNCH, Mastercam is specifically working with those schools focused on Precision Machining.

“CNC Software is proud to support HUNCH and its efforts to bring high school students new educational experiences with NASA projects,” says Peter Mancini, Education Product Owner, CNC Software, Inc. “This is a unique program. We are glad to be a part of students fabricating real-world products for NASA as they apply their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills, as well as learning to work in teams and think creatively.”

HUNCH originally started 16 years ago with a handful of schools producing hardware training items for the International Space Station. Now, it has grown to over 150 schools across the country, not only producing hardware for flight and training, but branching out to design projects, sewing flight and training articles, and an Astronaut Culinary Challenge. Over 20,000 students have participated, with 94% moving on to pursue undergraduate degrees. Says Blake Ratcliff, Program Manager, NASA HUNCH, “We are excited about the capability that Mastercam brings to our schools. This partnership will benefit both students in their academic pursuits and NASA in the products that will be generated as a result.”

Mancini comments, “Some of our best customers, such as Lincoln Tech, Warren Tech, and Cypress-Fairbanks ISD are already a part of HUNCH, and we look forward to introducing Mastercam to other great schools involved with this innovate program.”