Campus Irrigation System Doubles as Research Data Source

With special reporting from Brad Floyd and Tabitha Motley.

Example of the weather station

The Rainbird Irrigation System on campus – operated by longtime SMU employee and current Southern Botanical employee Brian Martin – has a weather station that provides weather data to control irrigation schedules across The Hilltop. The weather station was originally installed at Ford Stadium, but due to the construction of the new Weber End Zone, OIT Infrastructure Engineer Scott Rice had the station temporarily moved to an area just outside of the northwest corner of the Tennis Complex. Its final (and current) location is in an open area just to the South of the Fondren Science Building. This is where it caught the attention of Chris Hayward and Cathy Chickering from the SMU Earth Sciences Department. Continue reading Campus Irrigation System Doubles as Research Data Source

SMU360 Welcomes New Apps: Elevating Your Experience

SMU360 logoWe are excited to announce that we recently added seven new apps to SMU360. If you haven’t already explored SMU360, it serves as a one-stop-shop app, facilitating connections between SMU departments, offices, and organizations, and the broader SMU community, offering easy access to events, services, and information.

New apps that have been added to SMU360 are: Continue reading SMU360 Welcomes New Apps: Elevating Your Experience

OIT Upgrades Classroom and Event Spaces

Classroom ControlsEach summer, a large batch of rooms receive upgrades or repairs to ensure they are ready for the Fall semester. Although the installation work occurs primarily during the summer months, the assessment and planning phase for the work begins in late Fall and heavily involves the input and recommendations of our Faculty Technology Council.

The Faculty Technology Council engages feedback from the faculty within their respective school on technology changes or needs. This year, we received recommendations to ensure all shared classrooms had   Continue reading OIT Upgrades Classroom and Event Spaces

Advancing Academic Excellence: SMU’s M3 Empowers Researchers with Enhanced Capabilities

High-Performance Computing (HPC) logoAs recently announced, SMU is taking its High-Performance Computing (HPC) to new heights with the introduction of M3 last month. As part of this exciting development, we seamlessly transitioned all users from M2 to M3. Now that migrations have been completed, all jobs will now be hosted on M3. Continue reading Advancing Academic Excellence: SMU’s M3 Empowers Researchers with Enhanced Capabilities

SMU’s MOS Certification Program Reaches 5,000 Certifications

Amanda MarusterThis Spring, OIT celebrates another significant milestone with our Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Certification program. We are pleased to announce the 5,000 certification holder—Amanda Maruster.  Amanda is a sophomore majoring in Accounting with a minor in Statistics and Psychology. She completed both her Excel Associate and Excel Expert Certification alongside 310 students assigned one or more exams for ITOM 2308. Continue reading SMU’s MOS Certification Program Reaches 5,000 Certifications