Council on Academic Computing

September 25, 2008

Meeting Summary

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Council Charge

James V. Maher, the University’s Provost, delivered the Council’s charge. He asked Council members to

• work with the co-directors of the Center for Simulation and Modeling to stimulate greater faculty participation in the Center’s activities;
• work with aforementioned Center to support the academic computing seminar series;
• work with CSSD as it explores trends in academic computing and how they might affect the University.

Provost Maher emphasized that Council members can provide advice on the computing resources that the Schools require. Due the complex computing needs of faculty researchers, Universities must do more than simply manage computing software. The Center for Simulation and Modeling and CSSD also can help to respond to these needs.

Center for Simulation and Modeling

The Center for Simulation and Modeling, which will be formally established in late October, will support computational research across the university. It will draw faculty members and staff from a wide range of disciplines, including astronomy, biology, chemistry, economics, engineering, and medicine. The Center will be located in Bellefield Hall.

Report from Computing Services and Systems Development

Jinx Walton, Director of Computing Services and Systems Development, discussed the effect of internet spam upon the University. The spam filter continues to function effectively. However, some University-related e-mail circumvents the filter. University graduates are permitted to maintain a University account for one year after graduation. Many former students forward mail from this account to another provider, such as Google’s Gmail. Spam that would have been caught by the University’s spam filter is then redirected to the provider. As a result, the University has been flagged as a spam source several times. CSSD is working to correct this problem. They may resolve it by including the graduates’ accounts under those covered by the spam filter.

Ms. Walton also discussed several other topics:

• CSSD is developing a new strategic plan, which will formalize the unit’s priorities for the next three years;
• CSSD developed a password reset service, which enables students, faculty, and staff who have forgotten their computing account passwords to reset them online;
• CSSD created a guest wireless service, which offers short-term wireless access to individuals who are not affiliated with the University.

Miscellaneous

Members of the Council discussed several other issues:

• The Deans of the Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering are working to create a doctoral program in scientific computing;
• Science 2008 will take place on Thursday and Friday, October 2 and 3. It will be held in Alumni Hall.