Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
College of Engineering
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182-1324
February 24, 2006

Finance Committee
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Dear colleagues:

In response to Dr. Lee's request, I am pleased to submit the following list of replacement equipment for the Visualab (PS231-B), in priority order:

  1. Two (2) SunBlade 1500 workstations (to complete the order of six workstations; note that four were purchased in the previous request, dated July 2005). A total of six workstations are needed in the lab. The quote, including monitor, ethernet card, shipping and taxes, is $10,330. The workstations to be replaced are six years old, and the model (Ultra 10) is obsolete. This quote has a 20% educational discount. In the event of limited funds, this request can be split into two equal parts: $5,165 per workstation.

  2. One (1) HP laserjet 4250n printer, $1,385. The printer to be replaced is more than 8 years old, and it is not in working order. There are no toners for this printer. A printer is needed in the Visualab to support the special study (CIV E 798) and thesis (CIV E 799A and B) work of graduate students.

  3. One (1) Catalyst 2960 ethernet switch, $2,885. The switch to be replaced is 6 years old (year 2000) and it is obsolete (we are unable to find parts for it).

The Visualab is used for web-based teaching and research applications in hydraulic and hydrologic engineering. The lab specializes in dynamic web-content development with PHP scripting, and features thirty-two (32) online scripts (onlinecomp.sdsu.edu, onlinehydro.sdsu.edu, onlinechannel.sdsu.edu, onlinetc.sdsu.edu, rational.sdsu.edu and others) used in undergraduate instruction of CIV E445 (Applied Hydrology) and undergraduate/graduate instruction of CIV E 530 (Open-channel Hydraulics). The lab is also used by graduate students in the following courses: in CIV E 632 (Computational Hydraulics), CIV E 633 (Environmental Hydrology), and CIV E 634 (Surface-water Hydrology), and in special studies (CIV E 798) and thesis (CIV E 799A and B).

Pleased let me know if I can be of further assistance regarding this request.

Sincerely yours,

Victor M. Ponce
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

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