Computer and electrical engineering students and researchers are benefiting from the recent donation of powerful computer software to the University of California, Davis, College of Engineering. The gift from Mentor Graphics Corp. has a fair market value of $17.4 million based on the software's published list price. "The Mentor Graphics software provides computer-aided design tools for many aspects of electronic design," according to Paul Hurst, an associate professor in the electrical and computer engineering department. "Students and faculty will be able to design and simulate circuits in a variety of technologies. The tools will enhance the productivity of the solid-state circuits research group and the computer engineering research group, and will give students exposure to a popular industrial-quality CAD package," he said. Graduate design students will be trained on the software first, and subsequently will train undergraduate students in laboratory classes. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be able to do more sophisticated work as a result of this major gift, said M.S. Ghausi, dean of the engineering college. "We are delighted that Mentor Graphics has given this very generous gift of software to the college," Ghausi said. "This gift will contribute greatly to our ongoing effort to keep UC Davis engineering students working at the cutting edge." Since 1985, Mentor Graphics has given software donations to 130 schools in North America, including most of the UC system, through the company's Higher Education Program.