University of Minnesota

Reisinger (Geol), Shield (AEM), Sobelman (ECE), Swanson (ECE),

Tripathi (CSE), Uzpen (ITSB)

1) General Status reports

Hudleston introduced Nathalie Martimbeau from Physics, who has been hired to help implement the development of computer use in the introductory physics courses. Martimbeau explained the status of the work, developing lab projects for the 12xx physics labs. Existing projects are being transferred from Mac to PC platforms.

Mann reported that the first course in chemistry for which computer use will be implemented is Chem 1052H in spring quarter.

Larson said that the only issue that had cropped up was some problem with access to the Phys 130 and EE/CS 3170 labs for student taking organic chemistry or physics exams, when student did not have fee statement with them.

A possible problem with use of ProE was reported. Apparently, one user can inadvertently tie up several licenses at a time.

2) Retired Workstations

Hudleston reported that he had received requests form 12 student organizations for 17 workstations. 16 are available, and every organization requesting workstations will receive at least one. More workstations will become available during the winter when replacements purchased in the fall are installed.

3) Lab Opening Hours

Shumaila Anwer from MSA made the case for keeping a UNIX lab open for 24 hours, at least for the last half of the quarter. She had received a number of supporting messages from IT students. Some had to wait several hours to get on a machine at peak times. There were also some problems of not having enough ProE licenses. The license problem may be exacerbated by some users inadvertently tying up several licenses (up to 10!) at a time.

There was general agreement that the demand for workstation use in the labs has increased this fall, perhaps with the increased use by students in ME 1010. There did not seem to be viable alternative, such as running ProE on Windows machines in Lind 26 (using PC-based X servers). Problems with keeping one of the labs open 24 hours are security in the building (there would need to be someone at the door of EE/CSci after 12 p.m.) and scheduling for lab consultants.

It was agreed that at the very least ME 308 would be kept open late during the last half of the quarter and EECS 4202 would be kept open for several hours beyond 2 am (as it has been on an ad hoc basis this quarter when one of the lab consultants agreed to supervise it). Hudleston said he would look at use patterns this fall and survey IT students to gauge the magnitude of the problem this fall, and base opening hours in winter on this.

4) Other Business

None