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IT News

Get computing questions answered at ITaP’s Technology Open House Tuesday

During the second day of Octoberbreak, ITaP technology trainers will be available to answer faculty and staff members’ questions about specific software issues and offer information on using certain technologies in the classroom or office. Graduate students are also welcome to attend.

The open house will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Stanley Coulter Hall, Room 283. Expert help in such technologies as Purdue’s Signals program, Blackboard, microblogging, social media, Qualtrics surveys, eInstruction and Adobe Connect are slated for two-hour time periods.

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Purdue Google Gadgets offer satellite data visualization for everybody

Purdue collects masses of satellite data for use by scientists and state and local officials, but anybody who uses Google can share in some of this data cornucopia now.

Two Google Gadgets, a type of small Web application, created by Purdue staff and students working for ITaP let users see a visual, animated rendering of cloud cover, cloud pressure and water vapor as they change over the entire country and individual states, along with wildfire threats in the Midwest, among other things.

The project is intended to highlight the satellite and other remote sensing data ITaP makes available through programs such as the Purdue Terrestrial Observatory and the Purdue Real-Time Satellite Information Gateway (PRESTIGE). The latter is a Web portal to Purdue’s satellite data enabling fast, comprehensive and interactive access by researchers

The Purdue gadgets can be added to any Google homepage or personal Web page by visiting the Purdue satellite data gadgets Web page.

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Purdue researchers propose method to image electron wavefunctions

Researchers at Purdue University and the University of Melbourne, Australia, are proposing a novel way to accomplish something normally impossible to do — 3-D mapping of electron wavefunction, which is the probability that an electron will be in a given position around an atom in a solid.

The technique, which the researchers used ITaP high-performance computing systems to develop, could add to understanding of how things work at the atomic level — a field called quantum mechanics. A map of electron wavefunctions and their response to an electric field should aid in designing, engineering and manufacturing nanoscale devices a few atoms in size that act quantum-mechanically, as well as next-generation microchips and other electronics with nanoscale features. It also could be useful in advancing quantum computing.

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National Cybersecurity Awareness Month celebrated at Purdue

The premier ITaP event for Purdue’s recognition of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30, at Fowler Hall in Stewart Center.

John McCumber, strategic programs manager in the public sector group of Symantec, will discuss threats to computer security facing industry. Scott Ksander, Purdue’s chief information security officer, will discuss computer-security threats in a university environment. A security-themed Halloween costume contest will conclude the session.

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Tech Tidbits

SMARTcomputing saves money, lends support and strengthens security Read more
Campus computer reps at ITaP Shopping Offline Read more
Voice and data plan discounts offered to Purdue community Read more
Data-management demonstration available in video format Read more
Purdue email storage limit increases and owa.purdue.edu replaces exchange.purdue.edu Read more