IT Resources

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Information Technology Resource Guide

We have developed this Resource Guide to help you learn about the wide variety of IT services and organizations that are available. We hope the information in this guide will help you make the most of your time at Michigan, and we also encourage you to contact department faculty and staff with any questions you may have.

Department IT Contact Info

The department information technology (IT) group can be contacted via the email address [email protected]. Please use this email when in need of any IT support. You can also call the group at (734) 763-9109, but please use the phone only in the case of an emergency. Thanks!

Email Lists

A number of email lists are available to faculty to access departmental sub-groups. Access via the faculty intranet.

Departmental Intranet

The CEE faculty and staff have access to the departmental intranet. The intranet has meeting notes, policies and other documents, which are critical for different business purposes in the department. The intranet is only accessible by CEE faculty and staff. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

Computer Labs

CAEN computer labs are collaborative areas in College of Engineering spaces where students conduct engineering related work on desktop computers operated by CAEN. The computers in CAEN labs are “Engineering-only,” requiring a full CAEN Account to log in.

All lab computers run the CAEN Lab Software Environment, available for both the Microsoft Windows and Red Hat Linux operating systems.

CAEN Computer Labs

CAEN computer labs are open 24 hours a day on a first come, first served, drop-in basis, except when reserved. Some buildings, however, may be closed to non-departmental individuals during evening and weekend hours.

Eligible students at the College of Engineering receive a supplemental allocation of $40.00 each full term for use on Information and Technology Services (ITS) printers. Charges are taken from the allocation per impression (per printed side of a piece of paper) at ITS rates. Additional charges printed beyond the total allocation are charged to student accounts. ITS printers are available in many locations across campus, including all CAEN computer labs.

Advanced Research Computing (ARC)

Flux is the shared, Linux-based high-performance computing (HPC) cluster available to all researchers at the University of Michigan.

Flux consists of approximately 27,000 cores – including 1,372 compute nodes composed of multiple CPU cores, with at least 4 GB of RAM per core, interconnected with InfiniBand networking. Currently Flux is accessible to instructors, undergraduates, and grant writers and research administrators.

Software Packages

There are two software loads on the CLSE computers: a “Student Instructional Edition” for students completing coursework, and a “Student Research Edition” for students performing non-commercial research. Get more information on the software access and restrictions.

CAEN works with software vendors to find academic software that College of Engineering students can install on their personal computers at no cost. The current list of academic software that is available to Engineering students at no cost is collected in CAEN’s Knowledge Base.

Microsoft software – available through Microsoft Imagine. These packages can be installed on personal machines.

VMware Horizon – access university remote servers on your machines, you can install and connect to remote servers. This is particularly important for any students who have computers that have OS X (Apple) or Linux and need to run Windows 10 programs (i.e., those available in CAEN labs).

Cloud Storage and Computing Services

Students, faculty and staff who use one of CAEN’s desktop computing environments receive a network-accessible Windows Home Directory. Files saved in the Windows Desktop or Documents folders are stored and will be available in the same folders on all other CAEN lab computers.

CAEN student computer labs provide well-configured desktop computers with fully integrated software environments, network-accessible home directories for convenient and secure storage of files, and printers with a generous pre-paid print allocation. Remote access to the software environment installed in the computer labs is also available.

Classroom technology: CAEN supports presentation systems, a lecture recording and web-based viewing system and room control systems that enable easy and consistent use of these systems in all College classrooms.

The CAEN Hotline provides walk-in, telephone and web-based support. CAEN’s Faculty Liaison provides or coordinates one-on-one consulting and other training sessions oriented to faculty and graduate students for their use of CAEN’s resources.

CAEN’s departmental information technology resources and services include:

  • A comprehensive software library comprising engineering and productivity applications.
  • Network-based file storage to support productivity and administrative applications for faculty and staff.
  • An information security program that helps departments comply with U-M policies.
  • Assistance in using the College’s content management system to create and host departmental web sites.
  • Assistance in identifying and providing information technology solutions from campus and third-party sources.

Web-page creation services

CAEN offers a Web Publishing Service for the College of Engineering, comprising both WordPress and Google Sites for managing content. Depending on the type of group, department or individual, varying levels of service are available.

Backups

CAEN recommends that data which is business-critical to the College of Engineering be stored in departmental or administrative group space on the main College storage system, rather than on the local hard drive of an office computer because you are responsible for the data on your computer and for performing backups.