University of Minnesota

Institute of Technology

Minutes of the ITICC Meeting,

September 16, 2004

3:35 p.m., Physics 170

Present: Bill Arnold (Civil faculty), John Baxter (Math faculty), Bryan Carlson (ADCS), Tom Chase (ME faculty), Matt Dushek (EE student), Peter Hudleston (IT Dean’s Office), Phil Kachelmyer (ADCS), James Maatman (ITSB student), Dan MacEwan (Chem staff), Adam Nagle (Geol student), Jonathan Rogness (Math student), Roger Rusack (Phys faculty), Farzad Sadjadi (Phys student), Tom Shield (AEM faculty),

Lucas Veverka (ITSB student), Richard Voyles (CSciE faculty)

1) Introductions

Following the normal practice at the start of the academic year, Hudleston asked those present to introduce themselves.

2) Status reports from CSciE and ADCS

Bryan Carlson reported that things had gone smoothly at the start of the semester. The public lab improvements approved by the committee last spring have been carried out, including the modifications to provide ME 314 with classroom functionality. Carlson said that fiber optic security cable has been installed in CE 230 and Lind 24. Also, CCTV cameras have been installed in these labs and are being tested. Tom Chase commented that ME 314 was a great facility.

Carlson described one incident on the first day of classes when the network into the EECS building went down for 6 hours. The problem was related to the major campus-wide network upgrade. NTS had installed new code on several routers and this unexpectedly caused the network into EECS to go down. Further problems cannot be ruled out, given the complexity of the system, but NTS has promised to do all it can to minimize outages. Some Math classes had to be cancelled because of the network outage. Baxter expressed the wish that NTS would not plan major changes to coincide with the first day of classes, but Kachelmyer explained that this was not such a change - this was more of a response to an emergency. NTS had been working to fix a problem - they were installing patches from Cisco - the timing was serendipitous.

Tom Shield inquired about the reasons for security cameras in the labs. Hudleston explained that this was for two reasons, the first simply to increase security, and the second to increase efficiency by allowing the number of lab consultants to be reduced without loss of oversight. The implementation of these security measures and change in staffing of the labs follows a report in 2003 by a subcommittee chaired by Tom Chase [see February 2003 minutes]. Some concern was expressed about privacy and the notion that "Big Brother" will be looking over people's shoulders. It was noted that images will not be kept on file; they will only be stored for a short time. It was suggested that notices be placed in the labs explaining the reasons for the cameras and how they being used.

3) Schedule and Plans for 2004-05

Hudleston said he had distributed the schedule of ITICC meetings for the year. The two main items of business for the fall are the development of the second round FY05 plans for public lab improvements and the reevaluation of part of the procedures for the allocation of Lower Division funds. He reviewed the events of the spring in regard to the latter. Under the revised guidelines, the Lower Division funds are to be allocated for two purposes: "maintaining existing facilities", established with Lower Division funds over the previous six years, and "new initiatives." The major portion of the Lower Division funds was approved last spring for a three-year period (FY05-FY07) for maintaining current instructional facilities in Astronomy, Chemistry, Geology and Physics. Because there were widely different interpretations among the departments of the guidelines, the committee decided last spring to consider proposals for new initiatives only for one year (FY05) and to review the situation in the fall. This is what must now be done.

4) Other Business

Hudleston said he had looked briefly at the lab usage data on the web. He thought the pattern had not changed much from spring 2003 to spring 2004, except that there was a clear increase in usage of the Suns in Walter Library and a clear drop in usage of the Suns in EECS. Further monitoring of usage is in order.

Baxter asked if there had been any further discussion about a university-wide lap top requirement for undergraduates. Hudleston said he was unaware of any such discussions and did not consider such a requirement likely. Individual colleges have introduced computers requirements - for instance the MBA program and the Law School each now have lap top requirements.