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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):
- Four (4) Sun Ultra 45 workstations, to replace and retire four aging Sun Ultra 10 workstations which were purchased in 2000. [The Ultra 45's are at least five times faster and have ten more memory than the old Ultra 10's]. The quote, including shipping and taxes, is $28,450. This quote includes a 20% educational discount.
The Visualab is a world leader in web-based teaching and research applications in hydraulic and hydrologic engineering.
The lab specializes in dynamic web-content development with PHP scripting. It features forty-six (46) online scripts (onlinechannel.sdsu.edu, onlinewsprofiles.sdsu.edu, onlinerouting.sdsu.edu, onlinecomp.sdsu.edu, onlinehydro.sdsu.edu, onlinetc.sdsu.edu, onlineregression.sdsu.edu, etc.). These scripts are extensively used in undergraduate instruction of CIV E445 (Applied Hydrology; 20 students per semester) and undergraduate/graduate instruction of CIV E 530 (Open-channel Hydraulics; 25 students per semester). Additional scripts are currently under development, with substantial graduate student participation.
Students are now learning PHP programming in class projects and special studies. A new 500-level course entitled "Web-based Engineering" is being planned for Spring 2008.
The lab is also used by graduate students in the following courses: in CIV E 632 (Computational Hydraulics; 10 students), CIV E 633 (Environmental Hydrology; 15 students), CIV E 634 (Surface-water Hydrology; 15 students), and in special studies (CIV E 798; 4 students per year) and thesis (CIV E 799A and B; 2 students per year).
Please note that in the event of limited funds, this request may be split into two equal parts: $14,225 each, for two packages of two workstations each. However, all four workstations are currently needed.
Sincerely yours,
Victor M. Ponce
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
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