RESEARCH
OUTREACH
Hardware, Software, and Scientific Resources
COMPUTER FACILITIES AND SOFTWARE
Engineering and Engineering Technology Computer Laboratories Hardware
The School of Engineering and Engineering Technology has four computer laboratories containing 110 machines with speeds ranging from 500 MHz to 1800 MHz, including manufacturers such as Gateway and Hewlett Packard. All workstations are multimedia capable and are networked with Internet and e-mail access.
Software
The main academic cluster, which is a pair of Compaq 6400R servers, provide file and software service for the labs. Each cluster has four (500MHz) CPU's with 2GB of RAM and about 500GB of storage configured in a raid cabinet. Software is stored on the servers, but is downloaded and run from the individual workstations. Some of the application software offered from the server includes: Active HDL, ANSYS, AutoCad Lite, Cadkey, C-MOLD, Design of Machinery, Engineering Statistics, Fluent, LabView, Matlab, Moldflow, P-Spice, Pro/ENGINEER, POLYFLOW and Xilinx. Other applications offered in the labs include MS Office XP products and Visual Studio .NET.
- ANSYS is a general purpose, finite element computer program for engineering stress and thermal analysis. The software program includes preprocessing, solid modeling, analysis, postprocessing, graphics, and design optimization.
- BlowView is specifically designed to address the unique simulation requirements of the blow molding industry. The software includes simulation for extrusion, injection stretch, multilayer, sequential, and 3-D extrusion blow molding operations.
- C-MOLD and Moldflow are mold-analysis software applications that create computer models of plastic components during the design stage. A wide range of analyses can be run on the model to simulate the actual production of the component using injection molding, gas-assist molding, co-injection molding, blow molding, reactive molding, thermoforming, and other plastic molding processes. The use of these applications in the design stage ensures that the part is maufacturable, while allowing for changes to optimize product costs, process time, and material usage.
- FIDAP (Fluid Dynamics Analysis Package) is a general-purpose computer program that uses the finite element method to simulate many classes of incompressible fluid flows; 2-D, axisymmetric, or 3-D; steady-state or transient; compressible or incompressible; laminar or turbulent; single or multiphase.
- Matlab is high-performance interactive software program for scientific and engineering numeric computation. It combines numerical analysis, matrix computation, and 2-D and 3-D graphics in an easy-to-use environment in which problems and solutions are expressed just as they are written mathematically, eliminating the need for traditional programming.
- POLYFLOW is a unique, general-purpose, finite-element based computational fluid dynamics program that simulates the flow of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, with a special emphasis on complex liquids in industrial processes. It is an ideal tool for scientists to study 2-D and 3-D flow and heat transfer problems.
- Pro/ENGINEER is a solid modeling CAD (Computer-Aided Design) package that has integrated capabilities for creating detailed solid and sheet metal components, building assemblies, designing weldments, and producing fully documented production drawings and photo-realistic renderings.
- SolidWorks provides solid modeling technology to first-year engineering and engineering technology students. Its use is focused on the concept that designers think in three dimensions and that drawings and dimensioning are outgrowths of modeling.
Management Information Systems (MIS) Computer Laboratories Hardware
The MIS laboratory contains forty-one Tangent brand PC workstations. Each features an Intel Pentium 4, 1.6 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, a 40 GB hard drive, and a CD-RW/DVD combo drive. All machines are multimedia capable and are networked with Internet and e-mail access. The instructor's podium drives dual overhead data projectors and is equipped with classroom control software.
Software
All software is served by GE Foundation Computer Center Enterprise servers that offer a variety of business applications including: Arpeggio, Crystal Reports, Expert Choice, Monarch, PowerBuilder, PowerPlay, Project2000, SQL, and the Visual Studio .net suite. Other applications offered in the lab include: Microsoft Office suite, Corel Office 2000 suite, Macromedia web development and animation tools, and Java programming software.
- Expert Choice is a multi-criterion decision support software based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). It helps decision makers tackle complex decision making situations by identifying objectives, evaluating alternatives, analyzing tradeoffs, building consensus, and presenting recommendations in a clear and coherent manner.
- PowerBuilder is an advanced object-oriented software for the development and deployment of distributed, Web, and client/server applications.
- PowerDesigner is a Computer-aided Software Engineering (CASE) tool for: application/business logic design using UML class diagram; conceptual and physical data modeling for all major relational databases; reverse-engineering of existing databases and applications; and advanced documentation generation.
- Crystal Reports 8.5 is an advanced report generator. It supports the creation of sophisticated, flexible, presentation-quality reports from any data source and provides easy integration/deployment of these reports via the Web or any Windows applications.
Psychology Laboratory
Hardware
The Psychology laboratories include eight rooms equipped with networked Windows XP systems. There are twenty-five computer systems in the lab and twenty are networked to the main computer hub and have access to all available network software including SPSS for data analysis. The lab also has several specialized systems for research. The lab contains a specially designed sound attenuated chamber with two individual booths for research. Students and faculty have the opportunity to conduct online and offline research experiments in a variety of formats and modalities.
The lab has full Internet and e-mail access and two networked printers, a Xerox workstation copier, scanner, printer, and an HP 4200 laser printer. Direct access to the college's Web servers allow for the development of research experiments on the Web using Macromedia Authorware software. The lab is also equipped with a TV and VCR and an RGB digital projector. A Digital camera and Adobe Photoshop and Premier allow the creation of digital still and video images for teaching and research.
Software
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Courseware for Observational Research is an award winning software program designed by a group of psychology faculty with the assistance of technology grants from University Park and the assistance of the Penn State Erie instructional designer and student programmers. COR instructs students in the basics of observational research, coding techniques, sampling strategies, reliability analysis and Chi Square statistics, with the use of interactive digital video case modules. The program includes six lessons, a full case study, and five laboratory modules.
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The Cognitive Lab has two stand alone Macintosh systems set up for online auditory and visual stimuli presentation and data collection using PsyScope software. In addition, two Windows systems are equipped with E-Prime (psychology software tools) which provides students and faculty with a valuable tool for designing and running experiments appropriate for all populations.
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The Neuroscience Lab has two ERP (Event-Related Potential) systems. ERPs are scalp recorded brain waves time locked to a particular stimulus. One system has 16 channels and amplifiers from Contact Precision Instruments. The system collects ERPs with PC-EXP and Pandora, a program designed to measure, average, and display ERP signals.
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The other is a Neuroscan system with two 32-channel Synamps, amplifiers that allow the simultaneous collection of 64 channels of EEG. The system uses SCAN 4.3, a program designed for the continuous or epoched recording of EEG and event-related potentials. The program allows for online and offline transformations including digital filtering, linear derivations, and frequency spectral analysis.
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Stim is a software and hardware system designed to interface with SCAN and Synamps. It contains a library of sensory, cognitive, and neuropsychological tasks. The generalized task editor (Gentask) allows researchers to design their own experiments. The digital sound editor permits sampling and editing sound files. It includes programmable attenuation and 16-bit CD quality presentation.
Science Computer Laboratories
Hardware
The School of Science and the School of
Engineering and Engineering Technology operate a Linux cluster
consisting of one Pentium III server and 22 Pentium III
workstations. The workstations are multimedia capable and are
networked with Internet access. The workstations are located in
77 Benson, which features a permanent mounted color video projector.
The School of Science also has a specialty data communications laboratory,
which has a variety of workstations ranging from Pentium 166s to AMD
Duron 750s and servers running a combination of Linux, Novell, and
Microsoft server software. Students have the opportunity to do hands-on
work with wireless and wired LANs and WANs with a variety of telecommunications
equipment including repeaters, bridges, hubs, switches, routers, and
multiplexors.
Software
The Linux cluster supports a variety of free and licensed software. In addition, the computer center has installed X-Window server software on its Microsoft network so that Linux sessions may be conducted from any of the college’s public workstations.
Other software available in the school includes:
- Maple, a symbolic mathematical manipulation package.
- Splice, an electronic circuit simulation program.
- XPP, a differential equation solver.
OTHER RESOURCES
- Scanning Electron Microscope: Hitachi S570 capable of 100,000 times magnification; used to study the inner and outer topography of surfaces.
- Fourier Transform Nuclear Resonance Spectrometer: Bruker Avance II 400 Mhz with broadband probe. Used to determine the structure of unknown compounds, primarily through the location of hydrogen and carbon atoms.
- Wind Tunnel: A 24-inch open circuit Engineering Laboratory Design, Inc. wind tunnel with a velocity range of 10 fps to 150 fps, a two component dynamometer digital readout, and X-Y traversing mechanism. Flow velocity is measured with a TSI, Inc. two-channel, flow point anemometry system.
- Plastics Test Laboratory: A laboratory equipped to measure moisture content, tensile and flexural properties, izod and constant velocity impact, viscosity, PVT data for flow analysis, ultraviolet radiation effects, environmental stress cracking, flammability and smoke generation, energy to compound, and melt index.
- Plastics Processing Laboratory: An 8,000 square-foot laboratory with thermoplastic injection molding presses (seven @ 22 to 250 tons and two with gas assist), thermoset transfer molding, thermoset injection molding, three extrusion lines, continuous extrusion blow molding, and a variety of auxiliary equipment.
- CAM Machining Center: A Bridgeport TORQ-CUT 22, four axis machining center with a PC-based DX32 controller linked to the college's computer network. Includes a 22-position automatic tool changer.
- Materials Testing Laboratory: A laboratory equipped to observe microstructure; measure macro and micro hardness; test the response of a specimen in compression, tension, flexure, and torsion at constant and varying rates of deformation; izod charpy impact; rotating beam and flexural fatigue; and flexural and tensile creep and stress relaxation.
- Atomic Force Microscope: Allows for study of the structure of surfaces in great detail in the 10-nanometer to 10-micron size range.
- Fourier Transform Nuclear Resonance Spectrometer: Used to analyze and assist in the identification of unknown compounds, primarily through the location of hydrogen and carbon atoms.
- Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry: Broadly applicable analysis techniques used to analyze and assist in the identification of unknown volatile compounds.
- HPLC Chromatography: Used to perform analysis and to assist in the identification of unknown compounds, especially those of higher molecular weight, including proteins.
- Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer: Used to perform analysis and to assist in the identification of unknown compounds in solid, liquid, and gas phase.
- Atomic Absorption Spectrometer: Primarily used to analyze trace compounds and cations in water samples, including lead and other contaminants.
- Fluorescent Spectrometer: Measures the emission of light to analyze and characterize fluorescent material.
- Fluorescent Microscope: Assists in analysis and characterization by allowing for the imaging of fluorescing materials.