A Technology Fee Committee, consisting of five students, five faculty, and a faculty chairperson that votes only in the event of a tie, solicits, reviews and selects proposals to fund. Proposals are submitted each semester by academic departments/programs and recognized student organizations on campus. Documents relating to technology fee guidelines and proposals are available through the technology fee web page (CSM Home Page->Academic Affairs->Technology Fee Committee) or from the Computing Center.

Fifteen proposals were submitted requesting a total of $208,757 for Fall semester, 1998. Fourteen were approved for full or partial funding totaling $182,337 as listed above. Any student or faculty member wishing to read the proposals submitted through the current semester may do so weekdays between 8am and 5pm at the Computing Center by making arrangements with Marge Arnold (x3433; marnold@mines.edu).

#01  The McBride Honors program requested $9,600 to purchase two laptop computers, an LCD projection system, and ZIP drives.  Ethernet cards and a heavy-duty case to protect the projector since it will move around campus were recommended.  This proposal was fully funded.

#02  Physics requested $8,063 toward the purchase of equipment to complete the equipment needed for the Keys To The Future (KTTF) classroom.  This proposal was fully funded.

#03  Graduate students from the division of Environmental Science & Engineering requested $5,712 to update computers in the student computing lab.  After extensive discussion, the committee recommended that full funding be conditionally recommended toward the purchase of four higher-end (300Mhz or greater) computers and two printers if a departmental plan is presented and the department contributes the additional funds required to acquire the resources specified.

#04  The Petroleum Engineering department requested $16,999 to upgrade computers and software primarily in the student computer laboratory.  The committee recommended funding of up to $8,916 at this time to acquire three computers with larger disks and additional memory. 

#05  The Geology department requested $15,000 to upgrade and expand departmental computing resources. Although technology fee guidelines permit funding furniture for computer labs, the committee chose not to fund furniture at this time.  The committee did not believe that a slide-maker was a good investment.   Funding of $2,000 was recommended to acquire the digitizer requested in the proposal.

#06  The Engineering division requested $41,657 to improve the computing environment primarily for their undergraduate student population.  The committee felt that the division has made considerable progress toward researching and improving the environment during the past semester, and has developed a cohesive strategy to provide adequate resources for their students.  The proposal addresses the total environment, including legitimate software licensing, and considers all of the computing resources needed to support most undergraduates' programs.  Although the technology fee guidelines permit funding for maintenance, the committee felt it should be consistent and not fund it for this proposal.  The committee recommended funding this proposal for $39,657.

#07  CEPR requested $13,288 to equip two classrooms in Alderson Hall to support computer aided instruction needs.  Projectors, ceiling mounting hardware, and docking stations were part of the request.  The committee questioned the real value of docking stations and suggested the department evaluate alternatives and consider a more flexible strategy.  The committee recommended full funding with the request that the department develop the rooms in concert with the Computing Center as prototypes for the campus.

#08  CEPR requested $16,000 to acquire Windows NT servers and emulation software for their Unix systems.  The committee expressed concern about CEPR adding NT to their environment since they are strongly committed to Unix.  It is needed, however, to support a software application (ASPEN) on which they are very dependent in their undergraduate program since the vendor is discontinuing Unix development and support.  Although the committee recommended full funding, they also recommended that ASPEN be available in Computing Center labs so students have access to more seats and are not solely dependent on emulation software in CEPR’s Unix lab.

#09  EPICS requested $5,000 to put together tool cribs for design classes.  Although the tool cribs are clearly needed, the committee felt that the resources being requested do not really meet the standards required for technology fee funding.  The committee does not want to set any precedent by funding this type of proposal.  This proposal was not funded.

#10  The Engineering division requested $15,275 to support computerized data acquisition for the Electric Machinery Laboratory.  The committee felt this was a worthy proposal which fit into the division's overall strategy as outlined in the other proposal submitted by Engineering.  A good level of matching funds are provided.  This proposal was recommended for full funding.

#11  ASCSM requested $8,000 to acquire computers for the Student Activities workroom which will be available for use to all ASCSM clubs and organizations.  The committee was pleased to see a proposal from ASCM that will benefit all student organizations.  The proposal was recommended for fully funding.

#12  The Physics department requested $11,700 to support network upgrades in Meyer Hall.  The upgrades are clearly needed to create stability, improve performance, and implement better security in Meyer Hall.  The committee had an extensive discussion about whether to fund basic infrastructure such as wiring since they believe it should be a priority for  institutional funding.  The department is providing significant matching funds from various sources.  The committee concluded they would provide up to 50% of the total cost ($22,950) to support this proposal and therefore recommended the proposal be funded for $11,475.

#13  The Computing Center requested $8,310 to upgrade memory, disk space, and network speed in the SGI teaching lab in the Green Center.  The committee felt that the memory prices were high and that this wasn't as high a priority as other labs.  Since it is the only campus wide Unix teaching lab on campus, they recommended full funding, however.

#14  The Computing Center requested $25,600 to upgrade the backbone connections to the campus to 100 Mb per second.  The buildings affected will be Berthoud, Meyer, Stratton, Alderson, Coolbaugh, Brown, and Engineering halls, and the Arthur Lakes Library.  The committee recommended full funding but expressed concern that these upgrades would not be very visible to students.  The committee requested that the Computing Center advertise and find ways to inform students about these upgrades.

#15  The Computing Center requested $8,553 to upgrade all systems in Computing Center workrooms and teaching labs (GC 257, 211, 215, 225, 263) to a minimum of 64MB of memory.  The XSEL project has already upgraded GC297 and systems in GC265 already have 64MB.  Full funding was recommended for this proposal.