MSC.Software Announces $9.6 Million Gift-in-Kind to UC Irvine.

Business Editors

SANTA ANA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 26, 2001

Contribution Helps Prepare Students for Engineering Careers

With Working Knowledge of Leading Computer-Aided Engineering 

and Simulation Software 

MSC.Software Corp. (NYSE:MNS), the established information technology software and services provider helping companies worldwide develop better products faster, today announced that it has awarded more than $9.6 million in software and services to The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and the School of Physical Sciences at University of California, Irvine (UCI).

This donation represents an on-going effort by MSC.Software to provide leading academic institutions like UCI with software needed for computer-aided engineering and simulation courses that teach students to virtually engineer and design products, while learning to accelerate development time and meet increased productivity demands.

"MSC is dedicated to the training and education of the next generation of computer software and design engineers and eager to work hand-in-hand with UCI's extraordinary students and gifted faculty," said Frank Perna, chairman and chief executive officer of MSC.Software. "The momentum we create together will help prepare UCI's engineering and design students to enter the workforce with the skills to be elite technical and managerial leaders."

"Both Dean Ron Stern of the School of Physical Sciences and I are most appreciative of the generosity of MSC.Software. Working closely with corporations like MSC is vital to our mission of providing the best education possible to prepare students for their futures," said Nicolaos G. Alexopoulos, dean of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering.

MSC has been involved with UCI since 1986. The total value of this gift recognizes a pledge promised through 2004. The software provided to UCI includes MSC.Nastran, MSC.Patran and MSC.Marc, along with additional analysis integration packages. The software is used by students taking mechanical engineering courses in computer-aided technology.

"MSC.Software is solidifying its long-term relationship with UCI by committing to the continuation of the same level of support that has proven to be mutually beneficial to both the corporation and the students," said Dave Dimas, MSC.Software's director of support and training, as well as a teacher of computer-aided engineering courses at UCI since 1985. "We are able to enhance the education of the students, many of whom have in turn, become excellent MSC.Software employees."

Since beginning the relationship, more than 150 UCI students and graduates have become MSC.Software employees. The company has employed more than 300 student interns and currently has more than 25 students in co-operative education programs.

About UCI

The Henry Samueli School of Engineering encompasses the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and Materials Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. It houses seven research centers, including the Center for Pervasive Communications, the Institute of Transportation Studies, the Integrated Nanosystems Research Facility, the National Fuel Cell Research Center, and the Center for Biomedical Engineering. In addition, the school is an integral part of the newly founded California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, one of three California Institutes for Science and Innovation. Additional information is available at www.eng.uci.edu.

Encompassing departments of Chemistry, Mathematics, Earth System Science and Physics and Astronomy, the School of Physical Sciences is home to UCI's two Nobel Prize recipients, F. Sherwood Rowland (chemistry) and Frederick Reines (physics), who both received the honor in 1995. The School features six faculty researchers who are elected members of the National Academy of Sciences, and research in both organic chemistry and earth system science rate among the best in the country. Physical Sciences faculty also participate in major international research projects involving the Keck Telescopes, Super-Kamiokande and AMANDA neutrino detectors in Japan and Antarctica, Fermilab, Los Alamos and Brookhaven National Laboratories, the Chandra Observatory and the Jet Propulsion Lab.

About MSC.Software Corp.

MSC.Software (NYSE:MNS) is the established information technology software, services and systems provider helping companies worldwide develop better products faster. MSC.Software's software and services are used to enhance and automate the product design and manufacturing process. The ability to model and test software prototypes has cost-effectively enabled manufacturers to design and build everything from sophisticated aircraft and automobiles to electronic products. Simulating product performance reduces development expenses, time to market and warranty costs, positively impacting customer profitability. MSC.Software is capitalizing on the advantages of the Linux operating system for high-performance computing and the Web in all of its forms. For additional information about MSC.visualNastran, the company's ASP or Linux initiatives, visit the company at www.engineering-e.com or www.mscsoftware.com.