Faculty and Student Teams Program

Project Descriptions

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Information Technology Division

Requesting applications from Computing Science faculty members at institutions providing Windows Desktop hardware and software education to Community College students.

Project Description

The goal of this project is to pursue the evaluation of new technologies in the areas of workstation support as well as collaboration tools for customers in our administrative, engineering, and scientific environments. The scope of support in this context includes the infrastructure used for network file systems or web based content management systems, printing, software deployment, and cyber security, as well as traditional break/fix for individual workstations.

The changing face of workstation support must be reflected in the curriculum being taught by Community Colleges as well as within industry. Results from this team (methodologies and technical skills) can assist with local efforts to standardize and modernize the Windows Desktop Support curriculum within the Bay Region Community Colleges.

Knowledge of Windows Active Directory, Windows operating systems, collaboration tools, and programming languages (e.g. PHP, Perl, C) provide the foundation for this work.

The goals outlined in this project will be accomplished engaging in activities such as:

• Investigating methods to reduce the cost of a multi-platform/Operating System support operation through the use of Virtual machines (i.e. using VMware, Parallels or Virtual PC)
• Research and evaluation of enabling tools: IM/chat, web collaboration tools (e.g. drupal, xythos), wiki's, and remote viewing/access tools such as VNC and Timbuktu which improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Workstation Support Staff (including the help desk)
• Development of methodologies for repeatable investigation techniques to select the best performing anti-spyware and antivirus products.
• Performance and functional evaluation of new desktop operating systems

Applicants Responsibilities and Relationship to Project

Applicants and their students will receive support under the Department of Energy Faculty and Student Team (FaST) program to work collaboratively with a research group at Berkeley Lab for 10 weeks during the summer of 2008.  Faculty and students team members will be assigned to the same research group and typically faculty participants will provide mentorship and/or advising support to the undergraduate student team members while at the Lab.  Applicants are encouraged to contact Berkeley Lab investigators offering FaST opportunities during the application process.  Following the summer appointment, it is anticipated that the faculty participants will establish an ongoing collaborative relationship with Berkeley Lab investigators and assist in recruiting undergraduate students from their campus for DOE internship programs.

Qualifications of Ideal Candidate

Support and Financial Commitments

See Financial Information.

For More Information Contact:

http://csee.lbl.gov/