Abstract

CSDE's STF-funded resources continue to be a resounding success. Currently, we
operate a computer lab with 16 Windows XP workstations, a laser printer and a
scanner. In order to maintain the usefulness of the computer lab, we would
like to purchase new software for the lab.

Background

The Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology (CSDE) is an interdisciplinary
research Center, supporting all University of Washington students and faculty
with interests in demography and/or ecology. Demographic research covers a broad
spectrum of topics, including issues related to health, AIDS, crime, welfare
policy, family, sex roles, race, ethnicity, segregation, gender, inequality,
poverty, family planning, and environmental issues. At present, the Center has
affiliate students from many departments and schools on campus including
Anthropology, Sociology, Economics, Geography, Political Science, the Evans
School of Public Affairs, the School of Social Work, the College of Education,
the Jackson School of International Studies, and the School of Public Health.

Most demographic research is very computer intensive, and the field is one of
the most quantitative of the social sciences. Success in the field requires
demonstrable computer literacy, and a record of publishing quantitative work.
Many data sets used in demographic research are very large, sometimes involving
millions of cases. For example, the 1990 1% Public Use Micro Data sample (1990
Census) has 1,105,583 household records and 2,500,052 person records. Students
may also use a 2% sample of the Chinese Census, which is far larger. Processing
large data sets without high speed processors and very fast I/O is very time
consuming. Increasing I/O and CPU speed makes a huge difference in the amount
of time it takes to process large data sets.

The CSDE Computing Core provides computing infrastructure, technical support,
and programming support to our affiliates, most of whom are full-time graduate
students. The Core's objectives are to provide the demography research community
with the following:
1. Secure sensitive data environments for research
2. Secure remote access
3. High-performance computing clusters
4. Demography and statistical software packages
5. In-house support and consulting
6. Training and seminars
7. Web and database programming services
8. Programming support and grant consulting
9. Internal and external communications
10. Bridges between operating system environments
11. System monitoring for high availability
12. Backup and archiving services

As part of our mandate as a research Center, any student with an interest in
demography can become an affiliate and use CSDE computing services. Because of
the lack of resources available at many students' home departments, CSDE is
often a primary source of computing support for graduate students in the social
sciences. We currently have 400 student account holders who rely on CSDE's
computing services, and the number is ever growing, up 15% from this time last
year.

CSDE's NIH Center Grant provides staff salary support and a small amount of
equipment money. CSDE also receives some computing support funds from UW Arts &
Sciences and various faculty grants. However, these funding sources are not
sufficient to support our student computing infrastructure on an ongoing basis,
so we request some assistance from the STF Committee to help us support our
student population with an exceptional computing infrastructure.

Benefits

CSDE's facilities, including the center's computer lab are devoted to
demographic research, and the needs of the students we serve. Here students can
work on projects for their classes, theses and dissertations and get help from
Center staff and faculty located nearby. This combination distinguishes CSDE's
computer lab facilities from other student access computer labs on campus. Also,
many CSDE graduate students teach classes of their own, and use our lab to
prepare their classes. Teaching will be an important part of the careers of many
of our students. As they prepare classes, working in a lab where there are other
students with similar interests and experience is very helpful.

Computing in demography is often data and CPU intensive. Speed of I/O and CPU
makes a big difference in the productivity of students. Manipulation of large
datasets is typical of demographic research. General purpose computer labs do
not have powerful workstations, sufficient or centralized storage space, the
appropriate software or the professional staff support for demographic work. In
the CSDE lab students have access to high performance machines capable of
working on the large datasets typical of demographic research and can store
their data, access their email, and work on papers in one location.

CSDE provides 24-hour access to its computing facilities for those students
affiliated with the Center. We also provide specialized software and consulting
on demographic issues. The ability to do cutting-edge demographic work depends
on access to, and manipulation of, large datasets. Since 2001 we have been
continually expanding and upgrading the lab in order to provide services for a
greater number of simultaneous users; almost all of the funding for this has
been provided by STF. The flexibility of our office space in Raitt Hall has
allowed the student computer lab to be directly across the hall from the CSDE
support-staff and graduate fellows offices. The CSDE computing staff keeps track
of student requests throughout the year, and during the fall quarter we solicit
other suggestions from the community of CSDE affiliates; this is where much of
our STF proposal ideas originate. So, considering the continual heavy use of the
computer lab and in order to retain its utility for our students, we need to
continue to expand the software offerings for the lab.

Student Access

Any student on campus with an interest in demography will be given access to the
Windows domain by simply filling out a web-based form at
http://csde.washington.edu/services/computing/access.shtml . A CSDE domain logon
allows access to the computer lab machines, and also to the terminal servers.
One of the primary benefits of the terminal server systems are their
availability, which is 24/7, from almost any network-connected computer in the
world.

Available Resources

<pre>CSDE WINDOWS DOMAIN:
Includes a variety of servers and other resources which provide secure file
storage and transfer, remote computing, web services, print services,
backup and authentication. Total current storage capacity for students and
faculty is approximately 3 terabytes (TB). Multiprocessor servers connected
to a gigabit backbone provide high performance remote computing
applications.
* Dell PowerEdge 2850 server with 1.0TB RAID5 array and dual 3.0GHz CPUs
- used for faculty file storage
* Dell PowerEdge 2850 server with 1.0TB RAID5 array and dual 3.0GHz CPUs
- used for student file storage
- funded by previous STF grant
* SiliconMechanics AMD server with 1.0TB RAID5 array and 3.0GHz CPU
- user for project file storage
* Eight Dell PowerEdge 1850 with dual 3.0GHz CPUs in load-balanced cluster
- used for simulation cluster
- supports remote computing sessions
- funded by previous STF grant
* Dell PowerEdge 6850 server with 100GB RAID5 array and quad 3.0GHz CPUs
- used for terminal services
- supports remote computing sessions
- previous STF grant
* Dell PowerEdge 2550 server with 100GB RAID5 array and dual 1.2GHz CPUs
- used for terminal services
- supports remote computing sessions
* Dell PowerEdge 2650 server with 100GB RAID5 array and dual 3.0GHz CPUs
- used for terminal services
- supports remote computing sessions
- previous STF grant
* Dell PowerEdge 2450 server with dual 1.0GHz CPUs
- used for low-capacity terminal services needs
- previous STF grant
* Four Dell Precision 410 workstations
- two acting as Windows domain controllers
- one acting as a print server for the student computer lab
- one acting as a Virtual Private Networking server
* Dell PowerVault LTO2 autoloader
- used for tape backup of CSDE server network
- previous STF grants
* One APC 5000VA UPS power supply
* Two APC 2200VA UPS power supplies
- previous STF grant
* Five APC 1400VA UPS power supplies
* Four Netgear gigabit ethernet switches
* Four Dell/Avocent KVM switches
* Dell 42U equipment rack
* Assortment of monitors, cables, etc.

STUDENT COMPUTER LAB:
Sixteen Dell workstations with a complement of software typically used in
demographic studies. All workstations and equipment were funded by previous
STF grants.
* Six Dell Precision 340 workstations with 1.0GB of RAM, 1.5GHz CPU, 18GB
and 36GB hard drives, and LCD monitors
* Five Dell Precision 360 workstations with 1.5GB of RAM, 2.0GHz CPU, two
36GB hard drives, and LCD monitors
* Five Dell Precision 470 workstations with 1.5GB of RAM, two 3.4GHz CPUs,
two 36GB hard drives, and LCD monitors
* Five Dell Latitude D600 laptops available for checkout (two of which are
currently broken)
* HP ScanJet scanner with autofeeder
* LCD projector available for checkout
* Four C-pen portable scanners available for checkout
* HP LaserJet 8150 network printer

ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT USED BY STUDENTS:
The following resources are available for student use, but were not funded
by STF.
* HP LaserJet 4000 printer for the library
* HP LaserJet 8000 for staff and graduate student office use
* HP LaserJet 4 for the front office
* HP Color LaserJet 4600 color laser printer (permission only)
* Various computers in staff, faculty and student office
* Computers for CSDE funded research projects</pre>

Installation Timeline

As soon as we receive funding, we will order the equipment and the software.
When the equipment arrives, it will be set up and made available for use as
quickly as possible.

Departmental Endorsement

The Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology is grateful to the STF
comittee for its continued support of our mission to support computing in the
Social Sciences. Your committee has entrusted us with the funds to continue to
provide students essential software tools to be successful in their fields of
study.
It is of utmost importance that Social Sciences Students have access to the
latest statistical software packages and tools. These indespensible software
packages give students a chance to learn the tools that they will most likely
be using in their future jobs and research. As you know, the excellent hardware
that STF has provided is useless without the important applications and software
packages that students need.
Thank you for your continuing support of CSDE Computing and the students in the
Social Sciences.
--Matt Weatherford, CSDE Computing Core Director

The CSDE lab is heavily used by students who come to the center to work on
their projects. Our lab is a place where students can do computing work and
get personal assistance from CSDE's computing and statistical consultants
located on-site. The lab also means that students can collaborate with each
other and with CSDE's faculty affiliates in a facility that offers the latest
in hardware and software. Having the lab equipped with a wide variety of the
latest versions of research software for statistical analysis and write-up is
critical to maintain these advantages.
--Mark Ellis, Geography

The students that I work with, both graduate and undergraduate, are heavy users
of the CSDE Computer Lab. Therefore, I am in a position to endorse
enthusiastically the STF proposals from CSDE that will augment the statistical
and computing software that will be available to my graduate research
assistants and the terminal services facility that is used regularly by the
undergraduate research assistants that I am working with. I should point out
that these students use the CSDE computing facilities for their own work (e.g.,
on MA Thesis, Ph.D. Dissertation projects, etc.) in addition to their
collaborative work with me. I know that CSDE has competed successfully for STF
funds in the past, and they have put their previous awards to very good use for
students. Please let me know if I can provide any additional information about
the important contributions that the CSDE computing facilities have made to the
work of students I have collaborated with, or about the anticipated benefits of
these two, specific, STF applications.
--Stewart Tolnay, Sociology

The graduate students (and even some undergraduates) in anthropology have
benefited enormously from the computer facilities provided by CSDE. Our
students have been spectacularly successful in securing nationalfellowships and
funding for their research, and this is in part because of the very high level
of statistical and computer support they have received from CSDE. Statistical
and computer courses, the student computer lab, laptops, and especially the
terminal servers and statistical software are very heavily used by our students,
and have contributed in significant ways to their timely successes. Our
students are very fortunate to have access to the leading edge and extremely
high quality computer resources that CSDE offers, and it has certainly paid off
very nicely for them in terms of academic and professional success.
--Kathleen O'Connor, Anthropology

As the sociology department's Graduate Program Coordinator, I am reporting our
graduate students' evaluation of, and reliance on the computing services of the
CSDE Computer Lab. Most of the students who earned Ph.D.s during the past year
were heavy users of the CSDE Computer Lab's resources. Let me quote from one of
them, who is currently an assistant professor at a major East Coast university.
"The computing resources available from CSDE make life as a graduate
student so much easier. CSDE maintains a computing lab, servers to
store files, and remote desktopping services. These resources allow
students to store files of all sizes, access their files from virtually
anywhere (home, campus, working in the field), crunch models on CSDE
processors, and use expensive software that students wouldn't be able to
purchase on their own. I could run complex statistical models much
faster on CSDE servers than on any PC. In fact, many students use their
PC simply as a port to access CSDE's computing land. By constantly
updating software, licenses, security protocols, and managing upgrades,
CSDE takes care of all the worries associated with computing and allows
you to do your work. And the CSDE computing staff is always available
to help and backs up all files stored on their servers so that if you
accidentally delete something, CSDE comes to the rescue."
This student, and others, all testified that their progress toward their degrees
would have been much slower if they had not had access to the CSDE Computer Lab.
In fact, several of them told me that they are still using the CSDE's remote
computing resources, because their universities don't have equivalent resources.
Some might be upset that our former students, with jobs in major universities,
are still using our computer resources. I think that because CSDE has
world-class resources, we should continue to make them available to our current
and past students. In any case, it's clear that CSDE's computer resources are a
key element in our department's graduate program.
--Lowell Hargens, Sociology

I do hope CSDE is successful because the Center is truly a great resource for
students. In advising Social Work doctoral and masters-level students, I often
refer them to CSDE for data management and software access. Being able to work
with your staff to obtain secure server space with access to statistical
software is great, particularly for students who collect or use sensitive data
in which protecting respondents' privacy is important.
--Jennifer L. Romich, Social Work

Student Endorsement

I am writing in support of a request by the Center for Studies in Demography
and Ecology (CSDE) to update their EQS terminal server software. Currently,
CSDE has version 5.7, while the most recent available version is 6.1. This
quarter, I am enrolled in SOC 529: Structural Equation Modeling for the Social
Sciences. It makes heavy use of the EQS program for homework and papers. Our
professor arranged permission for class members to install a trial version of
EQS 6.1 on our home computers, which will expire at the end of the quarter. In
general, I have found EQS to be user-friendly and intuitive. Prior to installing
version 6.1 on my own computer, I experienced substantial frustration when using
EQS 5.7 on the CSDE terminal server. For example, a procedure that worked in
the current version did not work in the older version. Further, the help system
in 5.7 is decidedly unhelpful when compared to the help system in 6.1. Having
used both the older version of EQS and the current version on my home computer,
I can attest that an update of the software would be of great value to me and to
other students. I plan to continue to use EQS in research projects after my
course this quarter has ended, and I would be very grateful to have access to
EQS 6.1 through the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology.
--Colleen Chrisinger, Public Policy and Management

The addition of updated statistical software is absolutely necessary for CSDE to
continue to provide top-notch computing services for statistically minded
faculty, graduate students and undergraduates. As statistical software improves,
so does the ability for UW researchers to conduct cutting edge qualitative and
quantitative projects--something that has undoubtedly aided the national and
global prominence of this university. A particularly dire component of the
research proposals, beyond the statistical software packages requested, is
expansion of the terminal server (TS) hardware and software offered by CSDE. The
existing TSs are overburdened and often unable to accomodate the growing CSDE
user base. Further, the ability for researchers to back up their data on the
CSDE servers and work remotely from any on- or off-campus locations enhances
productivity. All told, the STF proposal's submitted by CSDE are important to
the continued excellence of our university, for both faculty, grads and
undergrads and cooperative research projects involving all three.
--Jon Agnone, Sociology

As a graduate student in anthropology, I have often relied on the software
provided by CSDE. This software has been invaluable both for coursework and for
personal research. Due to the quantitative nature of my research, the CSDE
resources have been particularly helpful - in fact, I know of no other nearby
computing facilities that offer the tools I need to analyze my findings.
--Siobhan M. Mattison, Anthropology

Items

Below are the items making up the current proposal. The asterisk (*) beside items signify that they were approved by the committee. This however was not implemented correctly for our database before 2005, so earlier years may not show this.

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