EXTON, Pa. – Bentley Systems, Inc. announced that the call for submissions in Bentley’s 2013 Student Design Competition, sponsored by Be Careers Network, a continuous learning initiative of Bentley Institute, is now open. University, college, high school, and technical school students are invited to submit projects designed using Bentley software, along with a short essay describing their work. Project submissions will be judged by an independent panel of distinguished educational leaders and industry professionals from around the world. The judges will focus on creativity and skill in applying design and engineering principles. The competition welcomes individual and team efforts comprising no more than three members. All submissions must be received by April 5, 2013. Bentley will award a $2,000 scholarship to the winning individual or team in each of the categories at the college/university level, and a $1,500 scholarship to the winning individual or team at the high school/technical school level.

“As engineers with years of experience enter retirement, infrastructure organizations around the globe seek new talent with knowledge of advanced information modeling software to design, build, and operate better-performing, more sustainable infrastructure,” said Scott Lofgren, global director of Be Careers Network. “The Student Design Competition is one of the many ways in which our Be Careers Network encourages high school students to explore careers in the infrastructure professions, and helps university and college students who have already selected this career path acquire the commercial software skills they’ll need to secure employment upon graduation.”

University, college, or community college students can submit projects in one of five categories: “Architectural Design,” “Road or Bridge Design,” “Rendering Using MicroStation,” “Engineering,” and “Solving a Problem With GIS Technology.” High school and technical school students can participate in the “Design an Efficient Retail Center” category. Submissions in each category must make clear the project’s problem, intent, and solution, and support the design models with architectural or engineering drawings using any of the applications in Bentley’s comprehensive portfolio of software for sustaining infrastructure.

Students, along with their winning projects, will be recognized at their respective schools. Each winner or winning team will receive a handcrafted award for display at school. Winners and winning teams will also be able to choose 10 seats of Bentley software – from the more than 50 products available through the academic subscription – for use by their schools.

For more information, visit www.bentley.com/studentdesign.