Olivia Drake(more…)
While technology at Wesleyan is growing by leaps and bounds, the computational capacity is growing by gigaFLOPS and now, teraFLOPS. Not to be confused with the prehistoric pterodactyl's beach footwear, a teraFLOP is a term used in high-performance computing to quantify the rate at which computer systems can perform arithmetic operations. TeraFLOPs can perform one trillion operations per second (S), and for scientists at Wesleyan, this means calculations can be done up to 50 times faster with the new computing cluster, installed during the summer 2013. "The new cluster has been revolutionary in my own work," said Francis Starr, professor…
Four Wesleyan faculty and staff members completed the Litchfield Hills Olympic Triathlon held July 14 in New Hartford, Conn. The triathlon featured a 1.5K swim, a 40K bike course, and a scenic, rural back road 10K run. Wesleyan participants included Mike McAlear, associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry; Tom DiMauro, analyst programmer in ITS; James Taft, assistant director of technology support services in ITS; and Brian Northrop, assistant professor of chemistry. Northrop came in third place overall.
All Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff now have access to lynda.com, an online subscription library that teaches the latest software tools and skills through high-quality instructional videos taught by recognized industry experts. Using your Wesleyan username and password, (see instructions for accessing Lynda.com) the campus community can access more than 1,400 training videos on a broad range of subjects, including photography, design, music and video, home computing, animation, and web design and development. Acquire comprehensive training in popular applications such as Microsoft Office for both PC and Mac and Adobe Acrobat Professional. New courses are added every week. Wesleyan students,…
Benjiman Jackson, personal computer specialist in Information Technology Services, received a Cardinal Achievement Award in June. Jackson was honored for demonstrating extraordinary initiative or providing outstanding service with regard to specific tasks in his department. This special honor comes with a $150 award and reflects the university’s gratitude for those extra efforts. The award recipients are nominated by department chairs and supervisors. Nominations can be made anytime throughout the year. For more information or to nominate a staff member for the award, visit the Human Resources web site and scroll down to Cardinal Achievement Award under “Forms.” Recipients will continue to be…
The campus community can browse university information through their smart phones and tablets through a new mobile web site developed by Information Technology Services. The Wesleyan mobile web site, launched Oct. 25, provides quick links to university news, events, academics, map locations and directory. Mobile device auto detection is built into the Wesleyan home page, so smartphone users (iOS, Android or Blackberry Torch) can view either the full web site or the mobile version on their handheld device. "A mobile web site is really designed for a broad audience," says Melissa Datre, director of ITS's New Media Lab. "Students, staff and faculty…
Q: Phil, you came to Wesleyan six years ago this month. What were you hired in as, and when did you join the New Media Lab? A: I came to Wesleyan as a multimedia developer working for The Learning Objects Studio, helping to develop and produce web-based projects for the faculty. Over the years, I began to focus more and more on animation, since that was my background, and last fall, my title was switched over to animation and video specialist to reflect my new role. Q: As a member of ITS’s New Media Lab, what are your core responsibilities?…
A $298,736 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will allow Wesleyan to remain competitive in numerical modeling research and education on an international level. Francis Starr, associate professor of physics, David Beveridge, the Joshua Boger University Professor of the Sciences and Mathematics, and Michael Weir, professor of biology, director of the Hughes Program in the Life Sciences, received the grant for a project titled “Major Research Instrumentation – Recovery and Reinvestment program (MRI-R2): Acquisition of Shared Cluster and Database Computing Facilities at Wesleyan University.” The grant, awarded over three years beginning May 1, will fund growth of the computer…
Dominic Ireland '09 has accepted the position of desktop support specialist in the sciences on April 26. He was previously working as a contracted employee in Administrative Support. In order to serve the numerous administrative staff, Information Technology Services merged Jerry Maguda’s position in Operations with Administrative Support. Maguda will assist in responsibilities answering the admin support line (x4777) and monitoring the support queue. He will provide remote support and communication with the users while being a continuous presence in the office.
Wesleyan has launched its new online look with a completely redesigned homepage. The new, image-rich homepage, http://www.wesleyan.edu/, offers rotating photographs of campus life, university factoids and departmental highlights that change when the page is reloaded. The most noticeable change to the new homepage is the open layout that emphasizes information, facilitates navigation, and refocuses content for Wesleyan's primary target audiences, including prospective students, their parents and external users. Under the images are recent headlines, upcoming events and title selections from a new, open access Community Blog. All members of the Wesleyan community can author a post, and anyone can comment…
Q: Jen, when did the ITS Print Shop move to the Usdan University Center and what were the benefits of this move? A: The ITS Print Shop closed on July 16 and opened on July 17 with a new name. We are now Cardinal Print and Copy. We have enjoyed a very loyal following with many of the departments across campus but new customers always seemed surprised to discover who we were and what we could do. Our new location solves that problem and is more convenient for most members of the Wes community. Q: What are your thoughts on…
Next fall, Wesleyan students and faculty will perform research activities on the same state-of-the-art animation computers that produced Ice Age the Meltdown, a $652 million worldwide box office hit. The computer hardware was donated July 2 by Greenwich, Conn.-based Blue Sky Studios, the creator of a number of award-winning digital animation features, including the Ice Age series and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who, which took in nearly $300 million worldwide. In 2008, Blue Sky Studios refreshed their technology for their latest movie, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and bought racks of new computers. "The old computer racks still…