We have introduced synopsys TCAD tools to students taking our core graduate course in device physics. Learning these tools was a key component of their class project. Students learned the tools in our new lab (donated by synopsys and Intel through a synopsys' Charles Babbage grant) using synopsys' and complementary tutorials developed in-house. Through analysis of student performance and project characteristics, we found that project complexity seemed to have negatively impacted students' academic performance. In this paper, we will present lessons learned introducing a TCAD tools.