This is the March 2008 newsletter for ITC
Research Computing Support.
We're rolling out a new format this month!
You'll notice the Table of Contents is now
on the right sidebar and the layout has changed slightly. We welcome
any comments you have about it, so please let us know. You can submit
your feedback at our Research
Computing Help Form.
And as always, if you
have any comments, questions or concerns regarding
the information presented here, please contact
either the Research
Computing Lab
in Brown Library at 434-243-8799 or the Scholars' Lab in Alderman Library at 434-243-8800.
Mark Your Calendar for These Upcoming Research Computing / Research Computing Lab / Scholars' Lab Events
Developing a Visualization Viewpoint
by Theresa-Marie Rhyne, Director, Renaissance Computing Institute's Engagement Facility and Center for Visualization and Analytics, North Carolina State University
Wednesday, April 9, at 3:00 PM
Charles L. Brown Science and Engineering Library, West Wing.
More
Software and Hardware..........
Update: Linux Cluster Power Supply
To alleviate overload of the ITC Carruthers Hall data center uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and backup generator, ITC is in the process of moving its Linux research computing clusters to smaller UPS units which are not powered by the backup generator. This is a temporary change until completion of a new data center facility for ITC.
The smaller UPS units will provide only a limited amount of power when a power outage occurs. This will give the systems protection from brief power interruptions, and provide enough time to do a system shutdown in the event of an outage that exceeds five minutes in duration. The head nodes of each of the clusters will be able to determine when the UPS is no longer receiving its normal input power, and shutdown all compute nodes in the event of a power outage that lasts more than five minutes. When such a shutdown occurs, all jobs executing on these clusters will be terminated; if the jobs were marked as restartable, they will be placed back in the job queue. Jobs queued but not executing will remain in the queue. Once normal power is restored, the head nodes will be able to restart the compute nodes, and the scheduler will resume its task of starting jobs from the job queue.
The transition to the smaller UPS is nearly completed for the cedar cluster, which was removed from the main UPS on November 20, 2007. We have been moving the power connections for cedar a few circuits at a time, as soon as all the compute nodes on a given circuit are idle. This transition was completed January 10, without shutting down the cluster and without having to terminate any running jobs.
The dogwood cluster now has 40 percent of its compute nodes on circuits with no UPS. The UPS for dogwood and elder is on order, and is expected to arrive in late January. Once that is installed, we will begin the process of moving all of the compute nodes of both dogwood and elder in the same way that we have moved cedar's, by idling a group of nodes and when all are idle, replacing their power connections, then bringing the nodes back online.
During this process, cluster users may see times when large numbers of compute nodes are marked offline; these are the nodes which will be moved once all jobs running on them have completed. Taking some nodes offline may result in somewhat longer queue wait times when the clusters are very busy, but doing the moves this way minimizes the disruption to normal operation of the clusters.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this announcement, please contact the Research Computing Lab at 434-243-8799 or by submitting a Research Computing Lab Help Request.
SAS Enterprise Miner Renewal
The SAS EAS 9.1.3 Enterprise Miner component has expired out-of-synch with the rest of the SAS components.
In order to use the Enterprise Miner component, a new SID file needs to be applied to the installation.
Licensed users of SAS EAS 9.1.3 may obtain the new license from the ITC Software Licensing website.
- Log into the licensing database.
- Highlight SAS under the Current License(s).
- Highlight Access License Codes and Program files on the right.
- Click the submit button.
- On the next page you can download the new SID file sas913EAS-SID.txt.
- Follow the directions for renewal.
- Test your installation to make sure that the Enterprise Miner component does not give an expiration error. (Recommended)
If there are problems or questions regarding this update or other aspects of statistical software, please contact the Scholars' Lab at 434-243-8800 or by submitting a Scholars' Lab Help Request Form.
STATA/MP Version 10.0 for UNIX Available Now!
ITC is pleased to announced we now have a two simultaneous-user license of the statistical software package, STATA/MP for Linux (32 bit; eg, cedar.itc and dogwood.itc) and a two simultaneous-user license for Solaris (64-bit; e.g., oak.itc.
To use Stata/MP on our high performance Linux clusters or our Sun cluster, you must have a research-enabled ITC account. To use Stata on either the cedar or dogwood HPC Linux clusters, you must use our PBS queue software to submit your job for remote batch running.
Alternatively, you may mount our UNIX software tree to your Linux or Sun Workstation to have your Stata jobs execute on your workstation.
Stata on UNIX does not require X-Windows. If you want to be able to see the graphs you draw, you must have X-Windows; otherwise, Stata will run fine without it. Graphs can be exported to PostScript with or without X-Windows.
If you need assistance getting started with Stata/MP for UNIX, please contact the Scholars' Lab at 434-243-8800 or the Research Computing Lab at 434-243-8799 or submit a Research Computing Help Request.
In addition to having Stata version 10.0 on our UNIX platform, we have STATA 9 installed on all ITC and Library Windows PC computers and will be upgrading them to Version 10.0 this summer.
Students, faculty, and staff can obtain Stata software at reduced, academic pricing, and the software can be installed on home or office computers, either UVa or personally owned. To obtain software under STATA's "GradPlan", individuals contact Stata Corp. directly to order Stata software and documentation. You then pick up your materials the next business day (generally) from Scholars' Lab in Alderman Library. The Lab holds a supply of Stata materials in inventory. See our Stata webpage for how to purchase your copy of Stata.
If you have additional questions about Stata, please contact us at the Scholars' Lab (434-243-8800) or the Research Computing Lab (434-243-8799) or by submitting a Research Computing Help Request.
Oxygen/XML Version 9.1 Now Available
The latest version, 9.1, of <oXygen/>XML is now available for download from the ITC Software Licensing website.
The site license provides access to versions on three computer platforms (Windows, Macintosh OS/X, and Linux) and permits installation on UVa-owned and personal computers.
<oXygen/>XML is a text
editor combined with XML editing features that gives all
the necessary tools for XML document creation and presentation.
More information about <oXygen/>XML is available at:
http://www.oxygenxml.com
ITC in partnership with the University Library is providing University-wide access to, and support for the software. Please contact the Scholars' Lab at 434-243-8800 or by submitting a Scholars' Lab Help Request Form.
Dogwood and Cedar Upgrading to R-2.5.1
The statistical application R will be upgraded to version 2.5.1 on March 18 on the dogwood and cedar clusters. Please contact the Research Computing Lab in Brown Library at 434-243-8799 if you have questions about this upgrade.
SPSS 16 Available Now!
SPSS has sent us SPSS 16 for both Windows and Mac. Both are available for download from the ITC Software Licensing website. SPSS 16 for the Mac will work on both Power PC and the newer Intel-based Macs. As with any rollout, there have been some reported problems, and these are detailed on the SPSS troubleshooting pages. You may login to the SPSS website for technical support using guest as both username and password.
If there are problems or questions regarding SPSS 16, please contact the Scholars' Lab 434-243-8800 or by submitting a Scholars' Lab Help Request Form.
AMOS 16 Available Now!
AMOS 16 (the last Version was 7) is available for download from the ITC Software Licensing website. This software only works on Windows machines.
If there are problems or questions regarding SPSS 16, please contact the Scholars' Lab 434-243-8800 or by filling out the Scholars' Lab Help Request Form.
Software Available in ITC Public Labs and Classrooms
The following list shows what research computing software is available in all ITC and Library Labs and Classrooms at the beginning of the Spring 2008 semester:
Windows Research Software:
- AMOS 7
- Ansys 11
- ESRI ArcInfo 9.2
- ESRI ArcView 3.3
- LabView 8.5
- Lisrel 8.80 (Available on Scholars' Lab computers)
- Maple 11
- Mathematica 6.0.1
- Matlab 7.5
- Minitab 15
- Origin Pro 7.5
- SAS 9.1.3 SP 4 EAS
- SAS Enterprise Guide 4.1
- SPSS 15.0.1
- S-PLUS 8 & Insightful Miner
- Stata 9.0
Macintosh Research Software:
- IDL 6.2
- Maple 11
- Mathematica 6.0.1
- Matlab 7.5
- SPSS 16
- Stata 9.0
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions for upgrades or software, please contact us at either the Research Computing Lab in Brown Library at 434-243-8799 or the Scholars' Lab in Alderman Library at 434-243-8800.
Microsoft Campus Agreement Announced
The University of Virginia has concluded a new campus agreement with Microsoft. Faculty and staff (full and part-time) employees in Agency 207 (largely state-funded academic and administrative departments) are now entitled to software licenses for the Windows operating system, the Microsoft Office suite and some other Microsoft software titles, all at no additional charge to individuals or departments.
Employees can upgrade their operating systems from Windows XP to Vista, or obtain a copy of Microsoft Office 2007 or the soon-to-be-released Office 2008 for the Mac. The agreement also covers Apple users running the Windows operating system on their Macintosh computers.
Under a work-at-home provision of the new agreement, Microsoft Office (for Windows or the Mac) can even be installed for UVa-related work on an employee's personal laptop or home computer for only the cost of the media ($10 to cover the cost of the software CD).
The Campus Agreement does not replace UVa's already existing Microsoft Select Agreement; the Select Agreement is still in place and covers some Microsoft products not included in the Campus Agreement such as programming software and back-end server operating systems and because it enables non-Agency 207 employees at the University to buy software licenses for University-owned computers at an educational discount.
A primary difference between the new Campus Agreement and the older Select Agreement is that the new agreement licenses software based on the number of University employees, rather than the number of University computers.
To take advantage of the new campus agreement, Academic Division employees have two options:
- Download your new software from UVa's secure campus distribution website, at no charge. Email tony [at] virginia.edu to request access to the secure download site. No PTAO (Project Task Award and Organization) number is needed, as long as you're an Agency 207 employee.
- Visit Cavalier Computers in the UVa Bookstore to pick up your software on CD. That way you have a backup copy, should your computer crash. The software will cost just $10 to cover the cost of making a hard copy on CD.
For more on the agreement, visit http://www.itc.virginia.edu/licenses or contact Tony Townsend, tony [at] virginia.edu or 434-982-4713.
UVaCollab Announced
ITC is pleased to announce that Collab, UVa's instance of the Sakai open-source online collaboration and learning tool, has been transitioned from pilot phase to production status.
This means you can now log in and create your own online collaboration worksites instantly. Try it for your committees, project teams, research initiatives, ad hoc groups, and much more.
It also has a new logo and name, UVaCollab, to signify its expanded role in both collaborations and course management at UVa.
As you've probably heard, UVaCollab is being phased in to replace Instructional Toolkit, and early adopters may begin using it in their classes in January 2008. The transition will be complete by the end of Spring 2009.
If you're new to UVaCollab, we encourage you to attend a short demo for a features overview and use guidelines. Demos are scheduled weekly in libraries across Grounds. Visit the UVaCollab home page for more information.
Events and Announcements..........
Scholars' Lab and Research Computing Lab Spring Break Schedule [3/1-3/9/08]
Both the Scholars' Lab and the Research Computing Lab will be open the same hours as their respective libraries during the spring break period from March 1 through March 9, 2008.
Please note: the Scholars' Lab will be open and staffed during these hours. The Research Computing Lab will be open, but only staffed from 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday-Thursday, March 3-6, and unstaffed (but open) Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2, Friday, March 7, and Saturday, March 8. The normal schedule for both labs resumes on Sunday, March 9.
For more information, please see the Web page at http://www.lib.virginia.edu/hours/spring_recess_2008.html or contact the Scholars' Lab, Alderman Library, 4th floor, 243-8800 or the Research Computing Lab, Brown Science and Engineering Library, 243-8799.
Scholars' Lab and Research Computing Lab Spring 2008 Programming and Events
This semester, the Research Computing Lab in the Charles L. Brown Science and Engineering Library in Clark Hall and the Scholars' Lab in Alderman Library welcomes an exciting group of speakers! We're proud to host or partner in presenting the following events:
- "Collex goes Celtic:
Applying the Collex System to the 'Finding the Celtic' Project"
by Michael Newton (independent Celtic Studies scholar and author of Handbook of the Scottish Gaelic World)
on Wednesday, March 12, at 3:00 PM
in the Scholars' Lab, Alderman Library.
He will describe the results of his recent NEH Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant. Newton modified Collex, a search and social software system developed at UVA for the NINES federation, to account for new types of data and to display temporal and geographic information through SIMILE Timeline and Google Maps. His project, "Finding the Celtic," is available online: http://celtic.ibiblio.org/,
Also, more information about the Collex system is online at: http://www.patacriticism.org/collex/
- "Discovery & Innovation via Cyberinfrastructure"
by Russ Miller of the Cyberinfrastructure Lab, SUNY-Buffalo,
on Monday, March 17, at 10:00 AM
in the Charles L. Brown Science and Engineering Library, West Wing.
He will present a framework that can be used to guide cyber-related activities in order to 1) accelerate discovery and comprehension, 2) create links between enabling technologists and disciplinary users, 3) create new techniques, algorithms, and interactions that improve efficiency of knowledge-driven applications in myriad disciplines, 4) enhance virtual organizations, 5) provide increased education, outreach, and training, and 6) enhance and expand relationships between academia and the corporate world. His talk will include an overview of his recent activities that fit within this framework.
This talk is co-sponsored by the Research Computing Lab and the Scholars' Lab.
If you missed Russ's talk or would like to revisit something he said, please see his presentation on the Web.
- "Parallel Computing with Matlab & R: Live Webex Seminar"
on Thursday, March 20, at 3:00 PM
in the Charles L. Brown Science and Engineering Library, Electronic Classroom (Room 133)
Representatives from Interactive Supercomputing will do a remote webex seminar and demonstration of their Star-P software products for parallel application development using the Matlab and R programming languages. Information about parallel programming using Star-P can be found at Interactive Supercomputing's website.
-
Developing a Visualization Viewpoint
by Theresa-Marie Rhyne, Director, Renaissance Computing Institute's Engagement Facility and Center for Visualization and Analytics, North Carolina State University
Wednesday, April 9, at 3:00 PM
in the Charles L. Brown Science and Engineering Library, West Wing.
She will speak on developing a visualization viewpoint. After a solid education in Visual Thinking at Stanford University and upon receiving Edward R. Tufte's 1983 groundbreaking book on “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” for her birthday in 1984, she decided to enter the emerging field of visualization. As a trained engineer and practicing artist, it appeared that visualization would allow her to merge two primary professional interests.
The talk will cover her journey to develop her own visualization viewpoint. She will highlight:
- exploring early Macintosh and other emerging computer graphics techniques in the late 1980s;
- becoming the founding visualization expert at the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Scientific Visualization Center in the early and mid 1990s;
- serving as a Director-at-Large for ACM SIGGRAPH and lead co-chair of the IEEE Visualization 1998 Conference in the late 1990's;
- developing as the Editor of the Visualization Viewpoints Department for IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications Magazine in the early 2000s; and
- setting up the Center for Visualization and Analytics and the Renaissance Computing Institute's Engagement Facility at North Carolina State University in the mid 2000s.
This talk is co-sponsored by the Research Computing Lab and the Scholars' Lab.
- Andrew Plotkin, award-winning interactive fiction
author and game designer,
on Tuesday, April 22, time to be announced
in the Scholars' Lab, Alderman Library.
This talk is co-sponsored by the Research Computing Lab and the Scholars' Lab.
- "Culture at the Interface: Digital Archives and "Social"
Rights Management in Aboriginal Australia."
by Kimberly Christen, Washington State University professor
on Friday, April 25 at 3:30 PM
in the Scholars' Lab, Alderman Library.
She is the creator of a digital archive documenting the culture of the Aboriginal Warumungu people of Tennant Creek, NT Australia
This talk is co-sponsored with the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, the Research Computing Lab, and the Scholars' Lab.
- "From Beethoven to Betelgeuse, 20 years in the quest for the Holy
Grail of Interactive Storytelling"
by Curtis Wong, Microsoft's Next Media Research Group,
on Tuesday, April 29, at 4:00 PM
in the Harrison-Small Auditorium (Harrison-Small Special Collections Library)
This talk is co-sponsored with IATH, Media Studies, ITC and several other groups on Grounds. - New Horizon's Open Houses
As part of the New Horizons faculty conference, to be held May 19-22. Stop by for a tour of the Scholars' Lab and the Research Computing Lab on the opening day of "New Horizons in Teaching and Research", a faculty conference at the University of Virginia, Monday, May 19 between 1:00 and 4:00 PM.
- "Computational Information Design"
by Ben Fry, Plenary Speaker at "New Horizons in Teaching and Research", artist, information designer, creator of Processing and author of Processing and Visualizing Data,
on Wednesday, May 21,
time and place to be announced. This talk is part of the New Horizons faculty conference, to be held May 19-22, and is co-sponsored with the Research Computing Lab.
Watch for other exciting New Horizons events to be announced soon, including a talk by Zotero creator Dan Cohen of George Mason University's Center for History and New Media ("Scholarly Tools and Resources for the Digital Ecosystem"), and a panel presentation on the Google Books project, to include TAPoR project director Geoffrey Rockwell.
Digital Therapy Graduate Student Luncheons
Graduate students and faculty members will be invited into the Scholars' Lab for free lunch and some casual consultation with the doctors of digital scholarship. Curious about what the Scholars' Lab can do for your research? Need software assistance? Help on digital scholarship methods and best practices? Want to talk theory? Need copyright advice? Just hungry?
Wednesday, March 19 at noon
in the
Scholars' Lab, Alderman Library.
Join us for a casual lunch and a talk from Library Graduate Fellow in
Digital Humanities Jim Cocola (English) about his work with literature
and location.
Wednesday, March 26 at noon
in the
Scholars' Lab, Alderman Library.
"Digital Therapy" Grad Student Luncheon:
COPYRIGHT 301 - Copyright and Authors' Rights: What Graduate Students Need to Know
, by
Madelyn Wessel, Special Advisor to the University Librarian and Liaison
to the Office of the General Council, UVa
Madelyn Wessel will offer the next round of essentials in her popular series
on intellectual property—this time geared particularly toward dissertators,
thesis writers, and early-career scholars: she
will discuss the pitfalls of dissertation agreements and
ways to protect your rights.
Madelyn Wessel is Special Advisor to the University Librarian and Liaison to the Office of the General Counsel at UVa. She is also an adjunct professor in the Curry School of Education, and lectures and advises on legal matters related to the scholarly endeavor.
No such thing as a free lunch? Feed your brain (and inform your work) in the Scholars' Lab.
For additional information, contact the Scholars' Lab at 434-243-8800 or via our Scholars' Lab Web form.
T+TI Fellow Burtner to Present on March 21
Teaching + Technology Initiative Fellow Matthew Burtner will
demonstrate the pilot version of the course he's working on in
TTI, Technosonics. Matthew is wrestling with using technology
to enable an extraordinary amount of student activity and
engagement in this large enrollment (180) course. So far he's
winning! If you're interested in the challenges and
opportunities of enriching the teaching/learning dynamic via
the integration of classroom technologies, this is a great
opportunity to talk with a colleague doing just that. The
session is open to all.
Date: Friday, March 21
Time: 3:30–5:00 PM
Place: Clark 107
More about the session: Pedagogical and Technological Ecologies for the 200-member laptop orchestra MICE in MUSI 235, Technosonics. This talk and demo addresses the challenges of incorporating interactive media pedagogy into a large project-based course. In 2008, Burtner's MICE (Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble) expands into a full orchestra of humans and computers through the development of innovative technologies for the 180-student course, Technosonics: Digital Sound Art Composition (MUSI 235). On April 30, 2008 at the Digitalis Festival in UVa's Amphitheater, MICE will present the first ever laptop orchestra performance. MICEtro, a new hardware/software system created by Burtner's Interactive Media Research Group (IMRG) enables the 200+ member laptop orchestra by employing a unique approach to massive data organization involving emergence, perturbation and L-LAN technology. The talk will give an overview of the project and demonstrate a scaled version of the complete system.
SAS and Operations Research Talk on March 25
As part of the INFORMS seminar series, Kathy Gerber with UVa's ITC Research Computing will discuss the popular statistical software SAS. SAS is often used when large datasets need to be manipulated, such as in the industries of healthcare and financial services.
The talk will be at 12:30 PM on Tuesday, March 25, in Room 002 of Olsson Hall.
Procedures and add-on components that have application in Operations Research will be the primary focus of this talk. A brief introduction to the product will also be included along with a broad comparison with other software. All are welcome to attend.
Library's Blacklight Project Presentation, March 26
On Wednesday, March 26, Madelyn Wessel and Bethany Nowviskie will present their experience in making the Library's Blacklight project open source.
- When/Where: Wednesday, March 26, 3:00 - 4:30 PM
- Byrd Seminar Room in the Harrison/Small Library
Blacklight is an OPAC (online public access catalog) developed at the University of Virginia Library; it has been made public under an Apache 2.0 license. Blacklight was the first project made possible by beTech Labs and is the first project to come out of beTech Labs as open source.
Madelyn Wessel is Special Advisor to the University Librarian and Liaison to the General Counsel, focusing on a broad range of library system legal issues including intellectual property, copyright, licensing, and special issues arising in the area of digital scholarship.
Bethany Nowviskie is the Director of Digital Research & Scholarship at UVa. Library.
Computational Science Speaker Series Continues March 28 with Kelvin Droegemeier
The Computational Science Speaker series continues on Friday, March 28, with "Transforming the Sensing and Numerical Prediction of High Impact Local Weather Through Dynamic Adaptation: People and Technologies Interacting with the Atmosphere" presented by Kelvin K. Droegemeier, University of Oklahoma, at 3:30 PM in Mechanical Engineering (MEC) Room 205. A reception will follow in the same location.
Talk Abstract:
Those who have experienced the devastation of a tornado or the
raging waters of a flash flood, understand that mesoscale weather
forms and evolves rapidly, often with considerable uncertainty with
regard to location and timing. Ironically, few of the technologies
used to observe the atmosphere and to predict its evolution operate
in a manner that accommodates the dynamic behavior of such weather.
Today's weather technology is highly constrained and far from optimal
when applied to especially unpredictable mesoscale weather.
This presentation describes a major paradigm shift now underway in
the field of meteorology to one in which weather-sensing devices
can change their configuration dynamically in response to the
evolving weather. This transformation involves the creation of
adaptive radars, Grid-enabled analysis and forecast systems, and
associated cyberinfrastructure that operate automatically on demand.
In addition to describing the R&D being performed to establish
this capability within a service-oriented architecture, the associated
economic and societal implications of dynamically adaptive
weather sensing, analysis and prediction systems will be discussed.
Professor Droegemeier is director emeritus for the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms (CAPS), and is serving a term on the National Science Board, the governing body of the NSF.
The Computational Science Speaker Series is co-sponsored by the UVa Vice President and Chief Information Officer's office; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
For additional information, contact Alice Howard at agh@virginia.edu.
Scholars' Lab Statistical Computing Consultant Opening
Job Description: The Scholars' Lab in Alderman Library is seeking a student assistant to provide statistical analysis support to students and faculty. The student will work at the Scholars' Lab desk and provide general patron service and statistical computing consultations. The student will also answer statistics-related emails and meet with patrons requiring in-depth help. This position requires 5-15 hours/week.
Qualifications: In addition to strong customer service skills, a candidate should have a good working knowledge of at least one of the following stats packages: SAS, SPSS, S-PLUS, Stata, and Minitab. The position offers a research or quantitatively-oriented student exposure to a wide variety of scientific computing and statistical analysis projects and a broad assortment of research projects from many departments in the University and extensive experience using computers for statistical analysis and data management.
Interested applicants should send a resume to Joe Gilber at jfg9x@virginia.edu.
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Apply as soon as possible. (AA/EOE)
Teaching Resource Center's Newsletter Now Online
The Teaching Resource Center's newsletter, Teaching Concerns, has been delivering teaching tips, essays, book reviews, and other teaching-related information to UVa faculty and graduate teaching assistants for over seventeen years. With their latest issue, Teaching Concerns is going totally digital. You'll find the same thought-provoking content, now distributed electronically.
View Teaching Concerns online at http://trc.virginia.edu/Publications/Teaching_Concerns/Spring_2008/TC_Spring_2008.htm. Comments and suggestions are welcome and should be directed to Deandra Little, Teaching Concerns editor, trc-uva@virginia.edu, 434-982-2815.
Upcoming Maple Webinars
To learn more about Maple, take advantage of live webinars conducted by Maplesoft experts. Check out the recorded webinar section where you can browse and view recordings of past webinars. Free online presentations are listed (register here).
Mapping Virginia Communities Workshop: An Introduction to GIS and Community Analysis, Mar. 13 or 14
Two one-day workshops are being offered on March 13 and 14, 2008 from 8:30AM-4:30PM at the Computer Services and Training Center, 1516 Willow Lawn Drive, Suite 100, Richmond. These workshops are appropriate for beginners and you need attend only one day (the same material will be presented each day). To register or get more info, please see http://www.nur-online.com.
Participants will learn to use ArcGIS 9.2 to do the following:
- Create thematic maps: Participants will learn to create thematic maps of their own data, and display spatial trends in information.
- Address mapping (geocoding): Participants will learn to map addresses of their clients, their projects or incidents such as crime and disease.
- Download and map Census & American Community Survey data: Participants will learn to extract and map current Census data such as poverty, race, language, population, transportation, education and workforce characteristics.
- Participants will also learn to:
- Conduct spatial queries
- Download free shapefiles
- Create well designed maps
Mapping techniques taught are transferable to all other communities. Exercises are designed for beginners. Intermediate Excel skills required. Materials, including a workbook and 60-day trial CD set of ArcGIS, are available.
Learn GIS Skills with ESRI
For those of us who are not familiar with GIS (Geospatial Information Systems), the concept of learning to do GIS can be intimidating. ESRI, the industry leading maker of GIS software products, has produced several ways to learn GIS. As a member of the statewide site license for these products, members of the UVa community can:
- Obtain a copy of ArcGIS 9.2 - the newest version of the leading software package - for their own personal use!
- Can sign up for FREE Web-based training modules
on Virtual Campus at
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/reference/help/esri/virtualcampus/
These are self-paced, comprehensive teaching modules that cover many of the most popular tasks involved in learning GIS. They are widely viewed as very good and challenging materials, and you obtain a completion certificate at the completion of these modules. - Recently, ESRI has offered a 40 percent discount on instructor-led classes. These classes are led by expert ESRI instructors, and are held in person at designated sites. The site nearest UVa is located in Vienna, VA (Northern Virginia area).
So, take advantage of these learning opportunities to familiarize yourself with GIS. Any data that can be visualized and analyzed spatially can be mapped with GIS. And for those users of SAS: we now have the EAS SAS Bridge module to ease your SAS data into GIS for analysis.
Mathematica Free Online Seminars
The Wolfram Education Group has begun offering free online
seminars to Mathematica customers worldwide. Taught by
experienced Wolfram Research staff, presentations are given
twice weekly. The seminar series began with S10: A Technical
Overview of Mathematica located at
http://www.wolfram.com/weg/seminars
For a list of dates and to enroll, visit:
http://www.wolfram.com/weg/calendar
Further information on how to access and use Mathematica can be
found on the Research Computing Services Web page at
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/mathematica/
Please contact ITC Research Computing Support if you have questions by or by telephoning or visiting either the Research Computing Lab in the Brown Science and Engineering Library (243-8799) or the Scholars' Lab in Alderman Library (243-8800).
VASUG Meeting, March 13
The first 2008 meeting of the Virginia SAS Users Group will take place on Thursday, March 13, at the Tuckahoe Branch Library, 1901 Starling Drive (about 1 block off Parham, behind Topeka's Steakhouse). If you plan to attend the meeting, please send an email to Secretary@vasug.org for planning purposes.
A full schedule is planned for the day:
- 9:15-9:30 AM: registration and networking
- 9:30-10 AM: Carrie Mariner - Getting Started with Arrays and Do Loops
- 10-10:20 AM: Barbara Okerson - Old But Not Obsolete
- 10:20-10:30 AM: 10-minute break
- 10:30-11:30 AM: Ken Borowiak - PRX Functions and Call Routines: There Is Hardly Anything Regular About Them
- 11:30AM-12:45 PM: Lunch on your own
- 12:45-1:30 PM: Carrie Mariner - Doing More with Arrays and Do Loops: When One Dimension Starts to Wear Thin
- 1:30-1:45 PM: Business meeting
- 1:45-2:15 PM: Claudine Lougee - title to be announced later
- 2:15-2:30 PM: Brian Adams - What I Learned (and What I Didn't) at My Multivariate Class
- 2:30-3:00 PM: Nat Wooding - SAS Resources: Places to Find Answers and Ideas
Additional details are available online at http://www.vasug.org.
Also, please think ahead to the September meeting. Do you have a topic that you would like to present before a friendly audience? The fall regional meetings are coming and organizations such as VASUG are a great place to practice your presentations. Don't feel that you have to find a topic that is Nobel Prize material—presentations on how you use SAS to improve your productivity are always informative and may give others new ideas on how to improve their own work.
SAS Global Forum 2008: March 16-19, San Antonio, Texas
SAS Global Forum 2008, known in past years as SUGI, is the premier event for SAS professionals worldwide. Along with over 300 presentations, demonstrations, and hands-on workshops, pre-conference events will included seminars and tutorials. A post-conference Data Mining Workshop will be held on Wednesday, March 19.
Conference registration information is on the Web at www.sasglobalforum.org/2008.
2008 SIAM Data Mining Conference - April 24-26
Atlanta, Georgia, will host SIAM's Data Mining Conference this spring. The SIAM Data Mining (SDM08) Organizing Committee also invites proposals for tutorials to be held in conjunction with the conference. Additional information is at http://www.siam.org/meetings/sdm08/.
New, emerging developments in computing, networking, and data storage promise to further revolutionize how Simulation Based Engineering and Science (SBE&S) will be done in the future. Learn about the current directions in Simulation Based Engineering & Science from a panel of experts who have completed a study initiated by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other U.S. Government agencies to examine the worldwide status and trends in this field. This free workshop will be held during 8:30am - 4:00 PM on April 25, 2008 at NSF, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22230, Room 375. Registration is required due to seating capacity and NSF security arrangements. Visit http://www.wtec.org/sbes/ for additional information.
Announcing Apple Training at the University of Virginia
The Office of Learning and Development and Information Technology and Communication are proud to announce that the University of Virginia is now an Apple Authorized Training Center.
Under this designation, UVa will offer hands-on courses, led by Apple certified instructors, designed for IT professionals who are responsible for planning, maintaining, and integrating Mac OS X workstations and solutions into their network environments. Classes are open to both UVa and non-UVa persons.
- Course information
- Registration information - complete and submit the form. Note: After completing steps 1 and 2, UVa employees need to register and submit PTAOs through the Integrated System Production and Self Service.
- Enrollment fees for Apple Training are non-refundable unless you cancel your registration by midnight ten (10) business days prior to the course date.
- Parking and Classroom Information
Now is the time to encourage your colleagues and students to join us and learn
about research computing support at UVa. We only send out an email once or
twice a month to this mail list. Anyone can subscribe to this "itc-research"
mail list via the Web page at:
http://list.mail.virginia.edu/mailman/listinfo/itc-research
Please encourage your colleagues to subscribe to our Research Computing mail list today!