Fall 2012

In this issue:

High Performance Computing

Email Wrangling

Connecting with Your Mobile Device

New SPSS Agreement

Microsoft Updates

High Performance
Computing Cluster
to Transform
Research at UW

From analyzing weather patterns to searching literature for trends, research computing has been changing the face of research across the country, and UW has been no exception. IT is implementing a new computing cluster that is strengthening UW’s focus on research. The computing cluster and a large scale storage system make up the new UW Advanced Research Computing Center (ARCC).

The cluster gives researchers across the institution the ability to use the high performance computing and storage capabilities, without needing to worry about the support, administration and infrastructure that come along with it. IT also has staff members with regular walk in hours ready to help researchers at all levels of experience. IT can help researchers use local and national computing power to effectively improve their research.

Policies, changes, and allocation of high performance computing resources will be driven by the University’s Faculty Advisory Committee – a select group of faculty members invited to help new researchers get started with computational research and to determine the procedures surrounding the ARCC. The ARCC is a high performance computing center for researchers, designed and governed by researchers. For more information on the Faculty Advisory Committee, please email arcc-fac@uwyo.edu.

The computing cluster will be set up with the “condo model”, meaning that in most cases individual researchers will have their own areas for storage or computing. Additionally, when there are other unused resources, even for a short time, those resources can also be used. This significantly leverages a researcher’s investment. The ARCC condo structure makes it easy to add additional storage or computing space as requirements grows.

With the ARCC, IT has also launched a website to assist in connecting to the research computing community. This website will make it easy to register for an account, see the queue for available time, and find helpful documentation. Parts of this website are already complete and IT is continuing to add content and resources. The website can be found at: http://ARCC.uwyo.edu.

If you have questions or comments about the ARCC computing cluster or if you would like to get connected to the UW computing research community, please contact the IT Help Desk at 766-HELP (4357), option 1.

Email Wrangling

Email is an excellent way to communicate with faculty, staff, and students across campus and across the globe. However, it can also be overwhelming and take time to process and organize. Here are 5 tips for using Outlook to do some of that processing work for you. Click on the titles for more information.

1. Rules to filter and file emails -
   (http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-outlook/archive/2008/03/07/quickly-creating-a-rule.aspx)
   Emails from journals or publications can make it easy to stay up to date on research and trends in your field; they can also clutter up your inbox or cause interruptions in your day. Set up a rule based on the email address or the subject line to filter these emails directly into a “To Read” folder. Then you can review them when you have time and they will not disrupt your day.
2. Colors -
   (http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-outlook/archive/2012/05/10/conditional-formatting-highlight-your-most-important-mails.aspx)
   Make your email easy to quickly scan! Set up conditional formatting to color your emails based on who they are from (such as your supervisor or other important contacts), their importance level, or if you are the only recipient listed.
3. Group email by conversation -
   (http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-outlook/archive/2012/05/11/grouping-emails-by-conversation-in-outlook.aspx)
   For long email chains this makes it easy for you to find the most recent one, so you can read the whole conversation without having to search for related emails. This also allows you to quickly file or delete all related emails once you are done with it.
4. Quick steps -
   (http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-outlook/archive/2009/07/27/introducing-quick-steps.aspx)
   Email actions that you use often, such as creating new emails to certain groups, forwarding, categorizing, and moving email, can be created into quick actions, so several steps can be done with the click of a button. For example, if you have emails that you send often, you can create a quick step that will fill in the recipients, subject, and even the message. Then all you have to do is click the quick steps button, modify as needed, and click send.
5. Auto-Create appointments and meetings from email -
   (http://blogs.msdn.com/b/melissamacbeth/archive/2006/03/31/566317.aspx)
   An email can quickly become an appointment on your calendar or a meeting request with all the information in the email moved to your calendar with it. Use this to quickly call a meeting based on an email or to schedule time on your calendar to work on a question from an email.

Connecting with Your Mobile Device

Information Technology wants to make it easy for you to stay connected to UW email and the wireless network from your mobile devices. See the following How To documents for instructions on how to connect to UW email and wireless:

iPhone/iPod
How to Connect to Your UW Email Account with an iPhone or iPod Touch
(www.uwyo.edu/askit/displaydoc.asp?id=4081)
How to Connect to UWyo and UWGuest Wireless from an iPad or iPhone on iOS 5
(www.uwyo.edu/askit/displaydoc.asp?id=4084)

iPad
How to Connect to Your UW Email Account with an iPad
(www.uwyo.edu/askit/displaydoc.asp?id=4082)
How to Connect to UWyo and UWGuest Wireless from an iPad or iPhone on iOS 5
(www.uwyo.edu/askit/displaydoc.asp?id=4084)

Android
How to Connect to Your UW Email Account or ResNet with an Android-Based Cell Phone
(www.uwyo.edu/askit/displaydoc.asp?id=4242)

New SPSS Agreement

There have been some changes to UW's agreement for SPSS software. Previously, UW had a limited number of local-computer install SPSS licenses costing $226/year. The local form of installation does not require the computer to be connected to the UW network for SPSS to work, so it is more convenient for faculty or staff that need to use a UW computer off the UW network.

Now, SPSS can be installed locally on any UW owned computer for free, with no limits on the number of installations. A Mac version of SPSS will now also be available for local installations. Network installs, where the computer must be connected to the UW network for SPSS to function, have always been free, and will continue to be free.

There is also a new requirement that all SPSS installations must be used only for teaching or research purposes. Unfortunately, SPSS cannot be used for administrative purposes, such as compiling statistics on class evaluations for a department.

For a local installation of SPSS on a UW computer, media can be checked out from the front desk of the Information Technology Center. For a network installation, please request access through the IT Help Desk at 766-4357.

Microsoft Updates – Automatic Reboots

On the third Tuesday of every month any available Microsoft Updates will be automatically distributed to computers across campus. You will know that there are updates to install on your computer when you see the update icon, below, at the bottom left corner of your screen. You can install the updates using these instructions (www.uwyo.edu/askit/displaydoc.asp?id=5001).

If updates have not been installed by the second Tuesday of the following month your computer will automatically install them and may automatically restart. The dates for the automatic install of updates and possible restarts for the rest of the calendar year are listed below. Any open work could be lost if your computer automatically restarts. IT will no longer be sending out monthly reminders about these updates.

• November 13th
• December 11th
• January 8th

If you have questions about Microsoft updates, please check the WSUS FAQ (www.uwyo.edu/askit/displaydoc.asp?id=487) or contact the IT Help Desk at 766-HELP.