4 RYAN KAMPHIUS UTSAV GANDHI campus@technewsiit.com AlChE heads to regional conference By Ton Trieu TECHNEWS WRITER Ten people from IIT’s AIChE chapter were selected to attend the regional at Michigan Tech University Eight of them are from the organization’s exec board, including: Carol Mak (AIChE IIT chapter president), Tracey Martinez (ViceEPresident), Say Yeong Sialr (High School Outreach Coordinator), Ariana Mayorga (Outreach Coordinator), Ton Trieu (Webmaster), Liam O’Rourke (Internal Liaie son); there were also three other active meme bers (Faisal Alraslany, Joe Farkas and Matthew Chaffee) We started by splitting into 2 groups, leaving at 2 pm and 5 pm on Friday, April 8r It was about an Sehour long drive The AICHE IIT chapter stayed at a nicelyelocated Travelodger On the first day, we checked in with the Michie gan Tech volunteer staff, who were helpful and showed us where all the events were to be held Me and a few other members attended very interesting workshops about viral nanoteche nology and future transportation hosted by Dr ChingEAn Peng and Chris Goslingr The AIChE IIT chapter also joined the ChemE Jeopardy event which was held at the ChemSci Building The chapter had a score of 800 and was in 4th place, after the Purdue Uni, versity chapter, which had 1600 at the preefinal roundr Thus, our internal liaison took a step up and decided to bet all the score for the last question Unfortunately, Purdue University also successfully raised their score so IIT chap, ter settled for 4th The weather was warm and sunny, so we decided to take a walk around the bridge next to the river and downtown area in Houghton, MI, right after lunch Finally, the award banquet dinner was host, ed in Rozsa Lobby at 7 pm to congratulate all the winning and participating teams The IIT Chapter had some social time with other AIChE chapters participating in the regional after the banquet ended We left beautiful Houghton and headed back Chicago around 8:30 am on Sunday morning Fly me to the moon Spring Formal2011 w i | TechNews I TuesdayApriI19,2011 IPRO 361: Lego Art shows their craft By Becca Waterloo A&E EDITOR This past Sunday afternoon in the Tech, nology Park atrium, IPRO 361 r Lego Art, had an art exhibition for their Lego Arts par, ticipants from the Louis LI Valentine Boys & Girls Club in Bridgeport As you may or may not know, IPRO 361 started a pilot program implemented at the club, created by 5th7year architecture student Lee Fink, for young students to express their creativity through Lego Art and introduce them to the funda mental building blocks every child should be exposed to: Legosr The purpose of the award ceremony and art exhibition on Sunday was to recognize the 20 students that were involved in the program, and also gave the opportunity for their parents, family and friends to witness them accept the trophies made of acrylic with each participant’s name and piece of art etched into it Students were seated at differ ent tables decorating photo albums for them to take home and stuff with pictures from the pilot program Each student was recog nized, which was a huge goal of the award ceremony and open house The kids also got a demonstration of the laser cutter in the IIT Idea Shopr Inside of the Idea Shop, the students’ work was displayed from the third phase of the program, which gave the young ones the op, portunity to create work of their own There was a broad variety of Lego art, which ranged from a monkey in a tree to a skyscraper The party planners made the environment bright and colorful with their table clothes, balloons, and photo album decorations All of the kids were having a great time express, ing their new creative side and accepting a personalized trophy for it It was a great finae le to the start of this innovative program The food was generously donated by Connie’s Pizza, Mother Butter’s, Jimmy Johns, and the event had a surplus of Sunny Delight and Capri Sun If you’re interested in seeing this Lego art, it was said it will be displayed with, in the next couple of weeks in the MTCCI For more information on IPRO 361: Lego Art, or information on getting involved, visit http://legoartrorg/ Student survey reveals pros, cons of on-campus technology By Ryan Kamphius CAMPUS EDITOR The seventh annual IIT Student Technole ogy Survey has come to a close In comparie son to 2010, this year’s results show a fairly consistent student opinion on technology sere vicesr However, some aspects exhibit a mixed response Just over 1,270 Main Campus, Stuart School of Business, Chicago Kent and Rice Campus students took the 2011 survey, which is a 15% response rate This response was slightly low, er than last year, but it was sent to a larger stue dent group and reflects what students think of technology at UT The percentages reported here are based on the fiveepoint scale that was offered in re, sponse to many of the questions on the survey (ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’) The ‘strongly agree’ and ‘agree’ re, sponses were tallied as an indication of stue dent satisfaction with various services ‘Neue tral’ replies were not omitted from the overall pool of responses, but they were not counted toward student satisfaction or student dissate isfaction, thereby lowering the overall afiire mative or dissenting responser Computer Labs and Printing Services As illustrated by the OTS Computer Labs and Printing Services graph, the hours of the OTS computer labs were met with greater ape proval, with 65% of students stating their sate isfaction This is largely due to the OTS Night Owl Lab moving into Galvin Library where students have an allenight dedicated study space that meets their technology needs This year, students expressed a slightly lower level of satisfaction with the number of PCs and software available in OTS computer labs 72% of students are satisfied with the nume ber of computers availabler Additionally, 75% of students expressed that the software in the computer labs met their academic needsr Student satisfaction with the quality of printing in the computer labs was met with a slight increase from last year, with 69% of students expressing satisfaction Given that available software and printing services con, tinue to be the main reasons that students are drawn to the computer labs, this is an impore tant improvement in satisfaction to note Computer Labs and Printing Services En, hancements The summer before the 201072011 school year, OTS enhanced some of the software available in the computer labs in response last year’s Student Technology Survey The Adobe suite software in all of the labs has been upgraded to Adobe CS4 Additionally, Mathematica is now available in all OTS labs on campus, and students can download a free version to their personal computer (for more information, visit the OTS Downloads chan nel under the Training and Support tab in myIIT)I Beginning summer 2011, OTS and Housing & Residential Services will be adding Remote Printing Stations in SSV and Gunsaulus Hall that will be available 24/7 for residents with access to these buildings Additionally, eight new computers will be installed in the MSV lounge area for use by residents With the ad, dition of these resources, and due to limited use and access to the OTS computer lab in the basement of MSV East, the lab will be closed beginning summer 20111 However, the re, mote printing station in MSV, near the vending area on the main level, will remain available Blackboard Out of the students who have used Black, board, 72% were satisfied with the system, which is the same satisfaction rate as last year 72% of students would like to see Blackboard utie lized for more courses, down from 75% in 20101 Blackboard Enhancements For the 201072011 school year, OTS and the Ofiices of the Provost and Undergradue ate Studies, introduced Blackboard Mobile Learn, providing IIT classes with a Black, board mobile web page This application brings the Blackboard teaching and learning tools to a mobile device, giving students and faculty access to their courses wherever they are Students can view their class announce, ments and grades and use collaborative tools such as blogs, journals and discussion boards Blackboard’s unique twoeway teaching and learning system also allows faculty to view and update their course content remotely Email Regarding email storage space, OTS has seen a steady decline in satisfaction over the past two years This year, 41% of students in, dicated satisfaction with the current IIT email storage capacity, down from 43% in 2010 OTS is taking this and past years’ feedback regarding email capacity into consideration for modifications that will be implemented during summer 201 1 as detailed below Email Enhancements OTS, in collaboration with the Student Gov, ernment Association is pleased to announce that IIT student email will be moving to the Gmail platform This will allow for increased utility and compatibility with other Google services as well as significantly increased email storage space This upgrade will take place during summer 2011 and the new plat, form will be available through the myIIT pore tal by fall 20111 IIT Network Student responses appear to have declined across the board with regard to the IIT wire, less networkr Student satisfaction with the ref liability of the IIT network on Main Campus decreased from last year, with a 39% satisface tion rate Similarly, satisfaction with the speed of the wireless network has declined, with 40% sate isfiedr Student satisfaction with regard to the IIT’s Main Campus wireless network coverage def creased to 43% expressing satisfaction One campus resident satisfaction with the IIT net, work is slightly lower than last year, with 36% indicating that the network in their residence is sufficient for their needs IIT Network Enhancements During summer 2010, OTS upgraded cere tain areas within Main Campus from Wireless G to Wireless N to offer improved wireless service to the IIT community OTS recoge nizes that the upgrade has not been a smooth transition and will ensure that wireless service is sufficient in the Residence Halls before fur, ther expanding to additional academic build, ings and the rest of the campus