Institute of Technology
Minutes of the ITICC Meeting,
March 22, 2007
3:35 p.m., Physics 133
Present:
Mark Anderson (Chem), John Baxter (Math), Bryan Carlson (ADCS), Rob Edman
(Math), Michelle Forster (CEMS), Peter Hudleston (IT Dean’s Office), Terry
Jones (Astro), Phil Kachelmyer (ADCS), Kent Kirkby (Geol), Joe Konstan (CSE),
Satish Kumar (CEMS), Larry LeMay (ADCS), Dan MacEwan (Chem), Kent Mann (Chem),
Kent Mein (CSE, IT Labs), Sean O’Neill (Astro), Roger
Rusack (Phys), Tom Shield (AEM), Dale Swanson (ECE), Juan P. Trelles (ME)
1) Status reports from CSciE and ADCS and
PJH
Mein reported that the labs had shut down for three hours
due to a problem with the network in the EECS building. One response to the shutdown, according to Kachelmyer,
came from users of Matlab, which was unavailable during the down time. Mein also said that
the profile issue had resurfaced briefly when the newer, problematic version of
Norton antivirus had been loaded on some machines instead of the older, problem-free
version. Norton is still working on the
fix.
LeMay
reported some problem with lab consultants.
Two had quit and another was delayed in returning after spring
break. He said lab operations were now
just about normal.
[Note:
The order of and within the next two agenda items was modified to
accommodate scheduling conflicts. The presentation of the lower division
maintenance proposal from Physics, under agenda item #3, was given ahead of
agenda item #2. The minutes preserve the
original order.]
2) Public
Lab Improvements – Spring Round, final presentation
Mein distributed a revised version of the proposal developed by the IT
Instructional Computing Technical Committee for making lab improvements for
2007-08. The proposal is unchanged from
what had been presented at the February ITICC meeting, except that the final
item had been dropped. This was the
proposal to increase the disk storage quota made available to students. The issue is not urgent and the ITICTC will
take more time to carefully assess the needs.
Hudleston
said he would now bring this proposal to the vote of the committee by email
ballot.
3) Lower Division maintenance 3-year proposals - Initial
presentation
Each department with a lower
division instructional computing facility supported by ITICC funds was invited
to present a proposal for continuation of funding of these facilities for a
further 3-year period.
Rusack presented the proposal for
Physics. It represents maintenance of
facilities to support all the introductory physics courses for different
audiences. This involves replacing on a
regular basis, computers, printers, cameras and projectors. The overhead
projectors are installed by the department, resulting in a savings. The
requested support also includes 50% of the cost of a programmer and 50% TA
support for upgrading the lab manuals.
The cost over 3 years represents about $20K in savings over the previous
3-year period. The total is $485,027.
Swanson asked about non-IT
students taking IT courses. Hudleston said they are not charged a fee for
taking physics courses or other courses in lower-division supported labs, but
they are in the courses supported by upper division fees. Swanson noted that the administration will
not allow colleges to charge a technology fee to students from other colleges.
Hudleston said he was aware of the problem of charging fees across colleges and
would like to see a fairer system in place.
Jones presented a proposal for
support of 3D visualization in astronomy labs, using the AstroWall, a parallel
system to the GeoWall in Geology. A new element is development of a system that
allows students to work interactively as a small group. The support requested from ITICC is in the
form of a 25% TA who works on software development for extending the
applications. Other support is provided by the department. The total cost to
ITICC is $42,000.
Mann described the proposal from
chemistry to continue support of computer use in the first and second-year
chemistry courses. The department uses 220 laptops in 4 laboratories serving
these courses, which are replaced on a 4-year schedule. The support is for
replacement of the laptops, software, and partial funding for staff support and
a 50% TA programmer. The proposal
represents no new initiatives. The total
requested is $737,450, which is more than in the previous 3-year period. Mann pointed out that the number of computers
being replaced differs in each 3-year cycle, and that the upcoming cycle
involves the highest number (205). This is 50 more (representing about
$130,000) than in the past cycle or than would be needed in the next cycle.
Hudleston said that the lower division budget could cover the amount
requested. On the issue of retirement of
old computers, he suggested that we consider giving some of the old laptops to
local schools. He has received requests
from schools for this from time to time, and this would be good community
support. Others pointed out the limited usefulness, however, of older machines,
especially with the introduction of Vista to replace Windows. There would likely be software compatibility
issues.
Kirkby presented the proposal for
continued support of computers used for visualization in the introductory
geology courses, using the GeoWall system.
This involves replacement of computers, workstations and projectors and
ongoing partial support for a visualization specialist. The department also provides support for this
program, and geology has been successful in getting external support from the
Department of Education. Kirkby pointed
out the collaboration for the visualization project, including sharing of
funding, that exists among the University of Minnesota, the Science Museum of
Minnesota, and the Electronic Visualization Lab at the University of Illinois
at Chicago. He also emphasized the
assessment being done to evaluation effectives of the use of the GeoWall. The total requested from ITICC is $126,578.
Questions were raised about a
proposal from Mathematics, which has a lower division instructional computing
facility in Lind 24. Hudleston said that
this was implicit in the proposal for upper division lab improvements, in that
half the cost of replacing computers in Lind 24 will be assessed to lower
division to reflect the use of this lab for use in instruction for the IT math
courses. Because the room is used both
as a classroom by Math and as a regular lab at other times, the cost of
maintaining this lab is split evenly between upper division and lower division
funds. Hudleston said the lower division
part of this will be presented as an explicit proposal.
Hudleston asked each of the
departments to provide him with an electronic copy of their proposal to put on
the web. He said that there would be an
opportunity for changes to be made, if necessary, before final presentation at
the April ITICC meeting, after which the proposals will be put to the vote.
4) Other business
None.