TCNJ computer science department gets major upgrade

EWING — The College of New Jersey gave Linode LLC a tour of its computer science department Thursday as a thanks for the company's donation of 65 network servers, which will be used for educational purposes.

The Supermicro servers were donated by the Galloway-based Internet service provider in 2012 and 2013, when they became too outdated for Linode's use.
But they were still valuable, Linode CEO Christopher Aker said, so they started to look into other ways they could put the machines to use.

“The nature of our business is that these machines, their length of life is somewhat short,” Aker said. “We end up with thousands of machines that we can’t utilize. They still have value, they’re still worth something … so we just thought, what a great way to put these machines back to work, by giving students exposure to them. It’s a really great second life for these machines.”

So far, the servers have been of great benefit to the college, said Guy Calcerano, major gifts officer at TCNJ.

“We are just saying thank you to Linode for their support,” he said. “They donated the servers to us and they’ve been a tremendous help to our science program.”

The software has been installed for students to use in their classroom projects and faculty-mentored research projects.

But Linode wants to do more than donate equipment — the company hopes to expand relationships with TCNJ and other universities in the state.

Linode is in the early stages of its Information Technology Workforce Preparation campaign, through which it will offer internships, participate in on-campus career days and collaborate with affiliated institutions, said Keith Craig, Linode public relations manager.

“It’s an initiative that we are getting behind because we actually find it difficult to find qualified candidates to fill IT positions here,” Craig said. “We pulled employees from California, Maine and other states because we couldn’t find qualified candidates from right here in our backyard in New Jersey.”

“We give the students exposure to these machines in the vague hope that we can build up the work force that we can then hire,” Aker said.

During the tour, Jeffrey Osborn, dean of the School of Science, also discussed plans for the school's new STEM building, which is scheduled to be complete by 2017.
It will house the department of computer science and two engineering departments and will be physically connected to the biology building.

“What we love about this new building is that it really is emphasizing the kind of synergy and collaboration that exists in today’s world,” Osborn said. “It’ll provide our students with opportunities to experience how important it is for computer scientists and engineers and physicists and mathematicians to be talking to each other and working with each other.”

Joie Murphy, a sophomore computer science major, thinks the new equipment and facilities will be very helpful to students at TCNJ.

“It’s really a great idea and I think lots of students will benefit from it in the long run,” she said.

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