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The emergence of Computer Aided Design and Rapid Prototyping technologies has had a major impact on mapping, design, and manufacturing, thereby reducing design effort, testing, and prototype work. This has resulted in significantly reduced costs and improved productivity. Therefore, many agricultural engineering and consulting firms would like to see graduating engineering students who are familiar with one or two CAD packages and have related experiences. Since the CAD course was first introduced by the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at the University of Arizona in 1994, an increasing number of engineering students have begun to use CAD software for their class projects and senior design projects. In 1998, the class was reorganized as a full scale CAD class through cooperation with local companies and other departments. Currently, the class teaches three state-of-the-art Unix- and PC-based CAD packages in a semester. In addition, the concept of rapid prototyping is introduced during the class in conjunction with direct CAD applications for modern manufacturing processes. Internet-based assignments and lecture notes have also been introduced in recent years. The exposure of students to cutting-edge design tools will better prepare these future engineers for the challenges posed by 21 st century technology. This paper presents the past, present, and future of the CAD course originally developed for Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering students at the University of Arizona.