AWR Corp., a leader in high-frequency EDA, announced the AWR Graduate Gift Initiative, which will provide qualified 2010 graduates a fully-functional free license for its popular Microwave Office® and Visual System Simulator™ (VSS) software suites. The goal of the initiative is to give graduating engineering students a career head start by providing hands-on exposure to AWR's high-frequency design software. The announcement was made at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association Annual Conference and Expo.

Working with universities worldwide to empower students with RF/microwave software tool experience, AWR's Preferred University Program was launched in direct response to expressions of interest from industry and academia expressing the need for students to have access to these tools prior to graduation and entering industry.

“With the increasing demand for wireless-enabled devices and the decrease in microwave and RF engineering graduates, tomorrow’s designers will need to work harder and smarter,” said Sherry Hess, Vice President of marketing at AWR. “Making our design tools available to these graduates is one of the goals of our program and is part of our commitment to making engineering students more attractive to industry by helping them become proficient with the actual tools of the trade.”