A crowd gathered to witness the dedication of the Michelle Lynn Dauterman Computer Aided Design and Instruction Lab Tuesday evening in Campbell Hall. About 75 faculty members, students, guests and professionals in the textiles industry were on hand for the dedication and to watch students in the department demonstrate how several of the new programs work.The design lab was named in honor of Dauterman, a former student in the Department of Consumer and Textiles Sciences who passed away in 1994.The lab cost about $250,000, and is the first of three phases of gifts given to the College of Human Ecology from an endowment fund established in October 1995 by Dauterman’s parents, Frederick and Alta Dauterman.The Dautermans, along with Deloitte and Touche LLP, were the major contributors to the fund, each providing equal donations. Many faculty and students in the College of Human Ecology and The Leo Yasonoff Foundation also contributed to the fund.Plans for phases two and three of the gifts include doubling the size of the current lab from 10 to 20 stations, adding more software programs to the lab, establishing an endowment fund for research in the Department of Consumer and Textile Sciences and establishing a scholarship for students majoring in consumer and textile sciences.Nancy Rudd, an associate professor in the department, said the lab will feature state-of-the-art software programs.Rudd said the main software used in the lab is Artworks Expert Edition by Gerber Technologies, but that 14 different types of software, including Adobe Photoshop, are also available for the students to use.”Students can now perform tasks formerly done by hand using industry-standard software,” Rudd said.Sarah Ruhl, a senior interior design major, is completing an independent study this quarter using the computer-aided design lab. She said she hopes to complete some new designs, using the software programs, that she can add to her design portfolio.Lora Cowie, a textiles and clothing graduate student, said the computer-aided design lab gives students a competitive edge upon entering the job market.”Computer-aided design enhances personal creative design skills and computer technology,” Cowie said. “It helps students learn the skills they need to help them get a job.”