CTI WEB

IMPORTANT NOTE: Each student must read this entire document and discuss its contents with his/her advisor as a condition for receiving access to FLC 205, the Graduate Transportation Computer Laboratory, referred to hereafter as "the Lab."

General Use of the Lab

Most Transportation and Urban Engineering (TUE) graduate students who receive funding as GA's are provided with a desk in the Lab. Other students who do not receive funding may be provided access for using the general use computers for research or class purposes. The following rules are established to permit efficient use of the Lab for everyone. Any student who does not abide by these rules will be subject to losing his/her privileges to use the Lab.

GENERAL USE OF ROOM

Each student provided with access to the Lab will be assigned a key to the lab and the outside doors of the Castleman building. The outside doors are locked on the weekends. The door to the Lab must be closed and locked whenever being left unattended even for a very short time.

Noise and other disruptions

Each student who is provided with desk space in the Lab may use his/her workstation for work on funded research projects, for activities as an academic assistant and for personal course work. In consideration of your fellow students who use the room, please avoid loud conversations in the vicinity of other student work areas, especially during normal work hours (weekdays 9am-5pm), or when other students are present and working.

Also, because of the limited amount of space in the Lab, please do not invite other individuals to work in the Lab with you during normal work hours (weekdays 9am-5pm). Instead, try to schedule course group work in the Lab in the evening or on weekends. If you are a graduate academic assistant, please hold consultations with students in your course in another room (such as the Geib Library on the ground floor) when other room occupants are present working.

When others are present working in the Lab, please use headphones to listen to music.

Use of telephone

A telephone is provided in the Lab so that students can make research related calls. Students are required to keep personal calls short when others are present in the Lab. Please consider standing in the hallway when using the phone.

Room organization

Please take advantage of file folders, file cabinets, drawers and shelves to organize documents and other materials associated with your research projects and courses. Please keep all materials associated with a given project in a single file drawer or cabinet shelf. Everyone must contribute toward keeping the Lab looking professional. Place your name on your desk, your shelves and your file drawers so that responsibility for specific areas is clear.

Personal appliances and food

At various times through the years, students have generously brought their own refrigerators, microwaves and coffee makers into the Lab. This practice will be permitted as long as these appliances and their immediate surroundings are kept in tidy order. Food, dishes, containers and utensils must all be stored in the designated place. Do not leave food-related items on the tables or other furniture. Keep in mind the building is very old and does harbor some unpleasant insects and other vermin we would not want to go out of our way to attract.

Personal courtesy

Students are reminded that sexual harassment, as well as discrimination or harassment based on gender, race or religion is illegal and will not be tolerated. Keep everyone in mind when selecting your computer wallpaper, screen savers, personal time activities, placement of personal effects in your work area, jokes and topics for ordinary conversation. The computer equipment and internet web access in the Lab should not be used at any time for viewing subject matter that might be considered offensive by any member of the university community.

Computer priority

Each personal computer in the Lab is access-controlled by usernames and passwords. Access to each computer is based on the type of research or teaching activity each student is undertaking. Students with intensive computer needs for their research may each have a single computer all to themselves while other students may have to share one computer for every two or three students. Use of a computer that is not assigned to the individual is often required in order to make use of certain computer programs. Regardless of which computer is being used all files must be stored in a user directory called by the student's last name, making sub-directories by project. By following this rule files can be backed up and removed after a student graduates.

Students must back up the work files for each project at least every two weeks. Each computer is equipped with either a zip-drive or a CD burner for this purpose; zip disks and writeable CD's are available from Deborah Barrett for Connecticut Transportation Institute (CTI) projects or CEE office staff for CEE projects. Failure to do so could result in significant loss of work and therefore time and money. Note that Dr. Holmèn's research group in Environmental Engineering recently sustained a loss of several weeks of field data collection due to loss of a computer. Please give these backup disks to your supervisor for safe storage.

Software copyrights

At no time should software belonging to UConn be copied and transferred to other computers. Several sets of data that are used within the group, particularly GIS coverages, have limited site licenses and cannot be copied or used for any other purposes other than those intended here at UConn.

SAFETY IN THE LAB AND FIELD

In the lab, but especially in the field, it is absolutely critical that proper safety precautions be taken. Safety equipment for such work in traffic, including reflective vests and traffic cones, are available from CTI. In addition, CTI has an interactive training CD-ROM that teaches safe practices for working in traffic. All students must complete this CD-ROM training before they may work in traffic. It is very likely at some point in your time as a student here at UConn that you will find it necessary to work in the vicinity of active traffic lanes to collect data, and if not as a student, then after you leave UConn. The faculty recommend that all students complete the CD-ROM training even if they do not anticipate working in traffic soon.

If any student feels any further equipment or training is needed to ensure the safety of him/herself or other students, staff or faculty, he/she should bring it immediately to the attention of his/her supervisor. Furthermore, if students are ever placed in a situation in which they believe their safety is compromised, the activity should be discontinued immediately until proper precautions can be taken.