Mission and Policies

Scientific Computing Policies

We take our role as the center of scientific computing at Evergreen seriously (note that this is different from taking ourselves seriously...) We pride ourselves as being knowledgeable, resourceful and above all, helpful. If you ever have questions or need help with anything scientific OR computing, please let us know! The CAL is a wonderful place to learn, grow, interact, study, and have fun. This is "home-base central" for many of the science programs. We encourage you to make this lab your place, by:

• looking out for problems and letting us know when they occur;
• offering kind words when a classmate is struggling;
• treating people like your friends...
• ...and the facilities and equipment like your own.

When Can I Use the CAL?

The CAL facilities are available for students, staff and faculty who have a reason to use the specialized equipment. Students in programs whose faculty have requested general or scheduled access may use the lab, as can those students pursuing individual contracts when their faculty request CAL access for them. Because of our highly specialized nature, complex equipment, and high demand, access is limited. For those students desiring computer access who are not in a CAL related program, we recommend that they use the General Computing Center (GCC), whose function is to provide general access to all students, staff and faculty. The GCC is open much longer hours and is set up to assist all users.

The CAL has two types of access: scheduled and open. For instance, Matter and Motion is scheduled for Thursdays, from 1:30 to 3:30. In this example that's their scheduled access time. This means that M&M students have first priority to all of the resources available (that includes our technical staff time). Depending on the faculty, other students may still come in and use the equipment, but they may be bumped if necessary. The time when no programs are scheduled to use the lab is called open access. All students in approved programs may use the lab on a first-come, first-served basis during general access time.

As there are now two lab spaces in the CAL, the East and the West sides, this makes open access a little easier. If you are working in the West CAL, and a scheduled program comes in, then you can simply migrate to the East side to find a free machine. For more information about what program is scheduled when, go to our current CAL Schedule, located on the sidebar for up to the minute information, or call us at ext. 6426 before you drive in.

Our Library

All of our software manuals, technical references and tutorials are housed in the hallway bookshelves across from the printers. Please feel free to browse the library shelves and use what you need. We have a number of useful resources and if you can't find what you're looking for, just ask the CAL Staff.

Since we have very limited resources and we don't have a formal checkout policy, we ask that you to use the books only in the CAL; don't take them home or out of the lab. We work very much on the honor system here and this only works if everyone respects it.

Copyright

The College is responsible for upholding the U.S. Law and the Evergreen Social Contract surrounding software use. It is a violation of the copyright law if you copy software from the CAL or put unauthorized software on our computers.

The college is very serious about honoring copyright, and anyone guilty of copyright violations involving CAL software will not be allowed to use the CAL facilities. If you have a specific request for a software installation for an academic program, please speak with a CAL staff and they can work with you.

Recycling

Evergreen and the CAL have always been strong recyclers. Even though we try hard to use less paper and educate our users, we still use an incredibly large volume of paper. Please help us continue the recycling tradition. You will find several places around the CAL to recycle paper and other products. Let's try to conserve our precious resources.

Reduce

The easiest way to recycle is to simply reduce the amount you use. Do you need a printed copy, or can you turn in your homework electronically? Two copies or one? Get into the habit of using the print preview functions of most of our software before sending your output to the printers. When you do need to print, check out some of the paper-saving features like "Print-to-Fit," which will reduce your output to fit on a single page.

All of our laser printers are set to print duplex (both sides of the paper) which has saved us an enormous amount of paper. If this is something that you need to change, ask a CAL staff member for help.

In order to conserve energy, we will often shut down machines in the lab if no one is using them. Feel free to turn these on if there are no spare computers.

Reuse

Feel free to pull paper from our paper recycling bins in between the laser printers - give it one more opportunity for use.

Use Recycled and Recyclable Products

All our laser printer paper is recycled. If you see other ways that we can be more ecologically aware, please let us know.

Join Us for Lunch

If you are enrolled in a class that has scheduled time in the CAL, it is likely that you will be spending a lot of time here. You are welcome to use the lounge area to consume food and beverages. Also feel free to temporarily leave your coffee here while you are away at work on the computers (but don't forget to pick them up or throw them away when you're done!).

The Lounge is provided so you can enjoy your food, drink and conversation without having to sit in front of a computer

There is also a microwave and small refrigerator available for use. Feel free to use the sink but we ask that you do not leave your dirty dishes, as we have a tendency to use them to hold our own dinner parties.

Please respect other people's food stored in the refrigerator (i.e. don't eat it if it's not yours) - remember, no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!^TM