Every day students in the MSU College of Engineering get out of class and rush through the halls to secure a coveted seat in one of the building’s Division of Engineering Computing Services computer labs.
But there are only 226 computers for 4,954 undergraduate students in the College of Engineering. Compared to fall 2008, when 2,803 students were enrolled, the size of the college has increased by 77 percent.
The college is growing faster than it can keep up with, resulting in crowded labs and leaving students disgruntled and sometimes without a place to work.
Electrical engineering senior Samanta Hoque is one of these students who has experienced some problems lately. She found that she often arrives at a lab hosting a class in session.
This is absolutely true, Associate Dean of Engineering Thomas Wolff said. With the recent influx of freshman into the College of Engineering, some of the Engineering 102 classes that originally took place in Wilson Hall have now been moved to the Engineering Building.
According to an analysis conducted by Wolff, the most popular times for students to be in the labs are Mondays and Wednesdays between 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. During this time, it’s likely a student will have a tough time finding a place to work.
As a result, the college is making several efforts in an attempt to alleviate the problem. Wolff sent out an email March 23 asking students to be courteous of fellow students in the labs this time of year, especially with final exams and projects picking up toward the end of the semester.
In the email Wolff asks students to yield their seats to someone else it if they are not requiring the computer for university-related work or if the student’s work does not benefit from DECS software or hardware.
Mechanical engineering senior David Thomas, who comes into the labs on a daily basis to take advantage of the dual-screen monitors and to work alongside peers, said students using the computers not for their intended purpose is part of the problem.
“Sometimes you’ll see kids in there for hours just not doing anything, just watching YouTube videos for hours,” he said.
The college has also instituted a Remote Desktop Services program, which offers engineering students the option to log in on their laptop from anywhere and access many of the DECS 100-plus software programs.
Despite this alternative, which 600 students have already begun using, Wolff said there are still two things RDS cannot emulate. These are the dual screen monitors of the computers in the lab and the ability to meet up in the Engineering Building to work on group projects.
As for adding new labs, Wolff said the college simply doesn’t have the space, and adding a new part to the building would cost millions of dollars.
Wolff said he believes the college is doing the best they can to address these issues, adding that it’s a common problem for engineering colleges all across the country.
