High-quality technology services are essential to delivering unsurpassed undergraduate education, outstanding research and operational excellence. The Office of Information Technologies (OIT) at Notre Dame partners with campus to support Notre Dame’s organizations in reaching their strategic aspirations through the use of technology.
��
The vision of the OIT is to enhance and sustain service excellence in five key areas: teaching and learning, research and scholarship, campus life, University operations and support for Notre Dame’s Catholic mission. The OIT works collaboratively with other campus IT staff to provide first-class customer service to the campus community by delivering value, driving innovation and developing staff.

“Adapting to a ‘new normal’ has put additional demands on IT organizations at companies of all sizes. This year’s winning companies have stepped up with increased IT staffing and a variety of innovative professional development opportunities. The result of these efforts is that not only are IT staffs engaged and productive, but the entire business benefits from IT’s ability to support evolving workplace models and changing business and customer needs,” said Rob O’Regan, global director, content strategy, Foundry. “Importantly, this year’s award winners are laser-focused on diversity initiatives to expand the IT talent pool and promote workplace diversity and inclusion.”

The Best Places to Work in IT list is an annual ranking of the top work environments for technology professionals by Foundry’s Computerworld. The list is compiled based on a comprehensive questionnaire regarding company offerings in categories such as benefits, career development, DEI, future of work, training and retention. In addition, the rankings are reviewed and vetted by a panel of industry experts.

Computerworld is a leading technology media brand for enterprise users and their managers, helping them create business advantage by skillfully exploiting today’s abundantly powerful web, mobile and desktop applications. Computerworld is published by Foundry. Company information is available at .

Contact: Lenette Votava, internal marketing and communications, Office of Information Technologies, lvotava@nd.edu, 574-631-6548

“Katie and Tracy have brought exceptional leadership, as well as deep institutional knowledge and passion for Notre Dame, to the Office of Information Technologies in their current roles,” Livingston said. “I am particularly grateful for Tracy’s leadership in support of the University’s COVID-19 operations and Katie’s leadership in support of the University’s move to hybrid work. Both have also demonstrated leadership in helping OIT meet the University’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. I have been extremely grateful for their contributions across the OIT, and I am excited to work with them in their new, expanded roles.”

Formerly senior director of IT strategy, planning and architecture, Rose has served in a number of leadership roles over her 24-year career at the University that began with answering calls at the OIT help desk. She has managed a wide variety of IT projects, participated in the Notre Dame Leadership Rotation Program and led teams to deliver outstanding user support, communications and managed cloud solutions. Rose is a past fellow of the Leading Change Institute, the EDUCAUSE Leadership Institute and the MOR Advanced Leaders Program.��

As assistant vice president for IT strategic excellence and engagement, Rose will lead teams focused on transforming IT outreach and communications, organizational change management, project and portfolio management, IT strategy and governance, IT enterprise architecture, University data governance and IT financial and administrative operations. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and computer applications and an executive MBA, both from Notre Dame.

Weber, previously senior director of collaborative IT services, joined the OIT as an application developer in 2003 and has served in many IT leadership roles. Most recently she oversaw the OIT help desk and embedded IT teams that support more than 30 University departments as well as overall device management. Weber serves on the recognition committee of EDUCAUSE, is a founding member of Anti-racism in Academia and is involved in the community as chair of the supervisory committee at Teachers Credit Union��and a lead volunteer at Cultivate Food Rescue.

Weber’s responsibilities as assistant vice president for community technology experience will expand to include leadership of the teams that support the University’s core administrative services including Banner, OnBase, ServiceNow and DataND. She will also continue to spearhead OIT efforts for IT recruiting and diversity, equity and inclusion. Prior to joining the OIT, Weber worked in consulting for Accenture. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics and an executive master’s in nonprofit administration, both from Notre Dame.��

Organizations will be included in coverage on and along with results from the 2020 Best Places to Work in IT survey.

“We are honored to receive this noteworthy recognition, and I am very proud of the quality of IT services and support our teams provide to campus, especially during these challenging times,” said , vice president for information technology and chief information officer. “At Notre Dame, the people make the place. The University is committed to creating a work environment that attracts and retains exceptionally talented individuals to our department who can help shape IT services to meet campus needs today and in the future.”

Technology-based services continue to be key components that help Notre Dame deliver an unsurpassed undergraduate education, outstanding research and operational excellence.

The vision of the is to enhance and sustain service excellence in five key areas: teaching and learning, research and scholarship, campus life, University operations and support for Notre Dame’s Catholic mission. The OIT works collaboratively with other campus IT staff members to provide first-class customer service to the campus community by delivering value, driving innovation and developing staff.

“As technology continues to evolve more rapidly than ever, attracting and retaining top IT talent to research, deploy and maintain that technology has never been more important or more challenging,” said Mark Lewis, vice president of�� audience development at IDG’s Insider Pro. “Companies that have earned a spot on the Insider Pro and Computerworld 2020 Best Place to Work in IT list share a common denominator: They create an environment that not only rewards workers with competitive compensation and benefits, but they also foster a spirit of diversity, social responsibility, training and innovation.”

About the Best Places to Work in IT

The Best Places to Work in IT list is an annual ranking of the top 100 work environments for technology professionals by Insider Pro and Computerworld. The list is compiled based on a comprehensive questionnaire regarding company offerings in categories such as benefits, career development, training and retention. In addition, IDG conducts extensive surveys of IT workers and their responses factor heavily in determining the rankings.

��

Contact: Lenette Votava, internal marketing and communications, Office of Information Technologies, lvotava@nd.edu

All organizations will be included in coverage on along with results from the 2019 Best Places to Work in IT survey.

“It is an honor for Notre Dame to be recognized for the seventh consecutive year in Computerworld’s prestigious listing,” said , vice president for information technologies and chief information officer. “The University’s commitment to create a positive and welcoming environment is key to attracting and retaining exceptionally talented individuals. I am proud to be a part of an organization dedicated to delivering modern, secure and reliable IT services for our students, faculty and staff.”

The vision of Notre Dame’s is to enhance and sustain service excellence in five key areas: teaching and learning, research and scholarship, campus life, University operations and support for Notre Dame’s Catholic mission. The OIT works collaboratively with other campus IT staff to provide first-class customer service to the campus community by delivering value, driving innovation and developing staff.

Technology-based services continue to be key components that help Notre Dame deliver an unsurpassed undergraduate education, outstanding research and operational excellence. The Office of Information Technologies at Notre Dame is dedicated to partnering with campus and finding the right solutions.

“The market for IT talent remains very tight, and employers continue to focus on finding and holding on to the best people,” said Computerworld executive editor Ken Mingis. “Our 2019 survey shows again that the Best Places to Work in IT are dynamic organizations that provide top pay and a broad array of programs and benefits designed to make them attractive places to work. Many show that they have a commitment to training, to diversity and to improved communication and teamwork.”

The Best Places to Work in IT list is an annual ranking of the top 100 work environments for technology professionals by IDG’s Computerworld. The list is compiled based on a comprehensive questionnaire regarding company offerings in categories such as benefits, career development, training and retention. In addition, Computerworld conducts extensive surveys of lT workers, and their responses factor heavily in determining the rankings.

Contact: Lenette Votava, internal marketing and communications, Office of Information Technologies, lvotava@nd.edu, 574-631-6548

��

The conference will be held on Thursday October 19 from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Friday October 20 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. It is a free conference open to ND faculty, staff and students. You can attend the sessions that interest you the most—whether it’s one session, a half-day or the whole conference. Plus, all participants can enter a drawing to win one of 3 $50 Amazon gift cards.

The 30-minute sessions will cover new features in apps you may use every day, new apps and other OIT products and services that can help you in your job.

��

Some of the conference topics include:

• New features in Gmail, Calendar, Drive
• Easy-to-use productivity and collaboration tools
• Using your iPhone or Android phone for work
• Editing your photos right on your phone
• Storage options: NetFile to Box to Google Drive and everything in-between

The conference will end with a session on future technology with lightning talks about current technologies and how they may change in the future.

��

For more information, including session descriptions, speaker biographies and the entire schedule, go to: oit.nd.edu/spotlight.

Originally published by Lenette Votava at on September 28, 2017.

The first Notre Dame App Challenge concluded on Wednesday, March 29, with presentations by each of the four final teams to the judging committee and the public in Mendoza’s Jordan Auditorium.

South Bend City Connect, an app aimed at reducing the cost of poverty for South Bend residents, took the top prize of $7,500.The app was created by graduate students Miriam Moore and Robbin Forsyth, who are both pursuing Master of Fine Arts degrees in the Department of Art, Art History and Design.

South Bend City Connect is designed to connect residents of South Bend with city services such as utilities, banking, and public assistance, and to shift some of the strain on the city’s 311 call center to a mobile app. Moore and Forsyth also spent time at Stone Soup Community, a local resource that helps people struggling with poverty, to get a better sense for how the app could be most useful to the South Bend population.
Moore and Forsyth were one of nearly 90 teams that submitted ideas for apps around the themes of “heal,” “unify” and “enlighten,” words espoused by Rev. John I. Jenkins C.S.C., during an address to campus in 2011.

After advancing to the second round of the challenge in October, they received one-on-one coaching from experts in user interfaces, information security and technical feasibility. They also created an “app blueprint” that contained all the 
details on how the app should look and operate.
The team was one of four chosen to advance to Round 3. Moore and Forsyth were then paired with student developers Erin Flynn and Ben Kennel, both undergraduates majoring in computer science.

Flynn and Kennel worked with Moore and Forsyth to bring South Bend City Connect to life as a functioning Android app. While the other three apps in Round 3 were built for iOS devices like the iPhone, Moore and Forsyth recognized that most of the potential users of South Bend City Connect use Android devices. They are now working with the City of South Bend to pilot the app this summer.

“South Bend City Connect integrates financial education, low-cost banking resources and electronic utility payments in a powerful tool to aid in the transition to self-sufficiency,” Moore said in an interview with The Observer. “We see South Bend City Connect as a powerful tool that aligns with the Notre Dame vision.”

Each of the four teams that advanced to Round 3 took home awards for their apps.

What’s Up Doc is a mental health app that engages patients with daily surveys on their phone and plots trends over time to share with a
doctor. The team that created 
this app took second place and 
received $2,000.

ZEBRA is an app that facilitates community building among those affected by (and working to treat and cure) rare diseases. Its creators won third place and received $1,000.

The fourth-place team created an app called Budget Books, and it facilitates book rental for students receiving financial aid. This team received $500.

“I’m incredibly proud not only of Miriam and Robbin for creating an app that can truly serve and improve the lives of our neighbors, but each of the teams for creating apps that addressed a true need in the world,” says Matt Willmore, mobileND program manager in the Office of Information Technologies. “I’m equally proud of each of the student developers. Each app created is reflective of both talent and consideration for the apps’ respective audiences. This Challenge showcased the depth of talent present at Notre Dame, and everyone involved should be intensely proud of what they created.”

Each app was built so that development can continue beyond the competition; indeed, some teams have already sought to engage student developers to continue work. To provide the greatest flexibility for each team in the future, the App Challenge organizers also worked with the Office of Technology Transfer to ensure student teams retained all intellectual property rights.

The App Challenge was sponsored by the Office of Executive Vice President, and jointly coordinated by software company SAP, Innovation Park at Notre Dame and the Office of Information Technologies.

Photo caption: Executive Vice President John Affleck-Graves, Miriam Moore, Robbin Forsyth and Don Ginocchio from software company SAP.

Protecting your personal information and Notre Dame’s most sensitive data from cyber-attacks continues to be a top priority. Two-step login has been implemented to provide an extra layer of protection around this data. More than 8,000 staff members have been using it for a year or longer. As of February, over 2,000 faculty members and over 13,000 students are now using two-step login.

The two-step login process requires a second way to verify your identity before allowing access to a service. The second verification from a previously identified device — such as your cell phone, landline or tablet — can significantly reduce the risk of identity theft.

Some important tips to keep in mind when using two-step login:

• Get in the habit of taking one of your enrolled mobile devices with you anywhere you need to access an ND service on a computer (office, classroom, home or when you are traveling). If you misplace, lose or break your only enrolled device, you will have to contact the OIT Help Desk for assistance.

• Be sure to enroll at least two devices. You can enroll additional devices on your device management page (twostep.nd.edu) such as:
• Mobile phone
• Office phone
• Tablet
• Phone number of a trusted colleague, administrative assistant or spouse.

If you get a new phone:
• With the same phone number: You need to reactivate your new phone on your device management page.

• With a different phone number: You need to add the new phone number to the device management page and remove the phone number from the phone you no longer have.

• When you are required to do two-step login on one of your own devices, be sure to check the box titled “Trust this device for 30 days.” If you log in to other two-step enabled services on this device and the same browser, you will not have to do the second step for 30 days.

• If you don’t have access to any of your enrolled devices, there are a variety of options you can use to help you log in to a two-step enabled service:

• If you know in advance that you will be away from your devices and you have the Duo mobile app installed on your smartphone, you can generate a one-time use passcode.

You can record that passcode somewhere (perhaps on a slip of paper in your wallet) and keep it as a backup.

• If someone else has access to one of your enrolled devices, you could contact that person at the time you are attempting to log in, and ask them to respond to the Duo notification on that device.

• If you are trying to log in during normal business hours, you can contact the Help Desk and ask them to authorize you to create a one-time passcode on your computer. You can use this passcode to log in to more than one device (laptop, tablet); however, it will only be active for 24 hours.

Note: The Help Desk will need to verify your identity, usually by presentation of a photo ID, or identifying someone else on campus who we can contact that will recognize your voice.

If you have any questions, contact the OIT Help Desk at 574-631-8111 or oithelp@nd.edu, or go to .

Now that Notre Dame faculty, staff and students are using two-step login, it is important to be prepared to use it when you are traveling from the University, either in the United States or abroad.

If you need to access ND services on a public computer or your own device, here are some tips before you leave:

• Review the devices you have enrolled in two-step login on your Two-Step Device Management page at twostep.nd.edu. Be sure to have at least two or more devices enrolled.

• Take one of those enrolled devices with you on your trip. (Note: If you are traveling internationally for University business, be sure to review the Technology Information Guide for International Travel to make sure you are following the guidelines for mobile devices, based on where you are going.)

• If you are traveling with a colleague or visiting someone you know, you may want to add his/her phone number to your list of enrolled devices while on your trip.

When you are traveling internationally with your smartphone or tablet that has the Duo app installed, you will still receive the “push” notification in areas where you have a Wi-Fi or cellular signal. If you are in an area that doesn’t have a Wi-Fi or cellular signal, you can use the app to generate a passcode for a one- time use. Additionally, the passcode can be recorded for later use — as long as you haven’t used a passcode created at a later time. This is handy when you are not able to bring a mobile device to a work location.

A key fob is another option when you don’t have access to your smartphone or tablet or cannot bring either device on your trip. The key fob is a portable device that can be purchased with a departmental FOAPAL or personal funds. You can enroll the key fob on your device management page as another device to verify your identity.

You can also purchase a key fob for $20 at the ND Computer Service Center, 102 IT Center, using cash, check, credit card or Domer Dollars.

Have you ever had an idea for a great app and wished it existed, or even wanted to create it yourself? The Notre Dame App Challenge, currently underway, asked that question of ND students, faculty and staff. The App Challenge was created as a sequel to last year’s successful VisitND Challenge that engaged students to create mobile campus tours. It was inspired by a similar competition held annually at the University of Chicago.

This unique challenge invited people from across Notre Dame to create mobile apps that answer a call-to-action from University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., in 2011: “I now ask all of you to join me in supporting these collaborative efforts to advance our vision of Notre Dame as a powerful force to heal, unify and enlighten our world.”

The App Challenge was divided into three rounds. Round 1 launched in September 2016. Interested individuals formed teams and submitted their app ideas; more than 85 app ideas were received from across campus. A judging committee comprised of campus leaders then reviewed the ideas and selected 23 to advance to Round 2, which began in early October. During this round, each team was tasked with creating an “app blueprint” containing everything needed to create the app, including basic designs of how the app looks and works, plans on how information would be safely managed, and identifying and understanding how likely users of the app could best be served.

Three huddle sessions were also held, giving each team one-on-one time with subject matter experts in user interfaces and user experiences, information security and technical feasibility. Teams were also allowed to partner with faculty mentors and receive further guidance. Round 2 culminated with Poster Day on Friday, Dec. 2, at the newly opened Scholars Lounge in Hesburgh Library. This event was an opportunity for the public to learn about the apps in Round 2, and provided a final opportunity for each team to receive public feedback on their app ideas and make any final tweaks before submitting their final app ideas on Sunday, Dec. 4. These teams each received a $100 award.

On Dec. 14, the judges announced that four finalist teams had advanced to Round 3. Those teams and their app ideas are:

• South Bend City Connect — an app idea created by graduate students Miriam Moore and Robbin Forsyth that aims to reduce the additional cost of poverty by integrating South Bend City services and assistance with financial education, low-cost banking resources and electronic utility payments into a powerful tool to aid in financial self- sufficiency.

• What’s Up Doc — created by undergraduate students Christopher Boldt, Sang Jun Park, Patrick Lacher and Paul Kozhipatt, this app seeks to improve mental health by providing users with treatment reminders, a daily mental health feedback survey that plots changes over time, and connects patients with those treating them.

• ZEBRA (Zebras Eliminating Barriers through Rare Advocacy), created by undergraduate students Katherine Inskeep, Anna Volk, William Langbo, and Kimberly Trochuck, the ZEBRA app aims to create a cohesive community of people suffering from “zebras,” a term used to identify rare diseases.

• Student Swap at ND — created by undergraduate students Mitchell Kokko, Brock Gallagher and Devyn Spruell, this app helps students with qualified financial aid to obtain textbooks and school supplies through the bookstore in a secure and discreet manner, so that they may have an equal opportunity to succeed in the classroom.

Starting in January, each team was paired with a student app developer who is helping bring their apps to life. These apps will then be presented to the judges and the public Wednesday, March 29 from 4 to 6 p.m. in Jordan Auditorium. The judges will make their selections at the event, awarding the winning team a $7,500 grand prize; second place will receive $2,000, and third place will receive $1,000.

The App Challenge is sponsored by the Office of the Executive Vice President, and organized by staff from SAP, Innovation Park at Notre Dame and the Office of Information Technologies. The judges and subject matter experts represent over a dozen departments and offices across campus. Co-organizer Matt Willmore, mobileND program manager in the saw this challenge as an opportunity for anyone with an app idea to compete, win and be exposed to the process of creating a great app. “The teams that advanced to Round 2 received firsthand knowledge and guidance on building and refining their app idea,” said Willmore. “They’ve all completed what is often the hardest part of creating a new mobile app. We’re also confident more apps will come to market than just those advancing to the final round, and are very excited to see that happen.”

The new iteration of insideND will be available to all faculty, staff and students beginning Monday, August 1.


Powered by One Campus, the new insideND provides access to many Notre Dame services without logging in with a netID and password. But logging in will allow access to more options, including the ability to mark favorites and to learn more about a service or application.


Preview the features now by opening any browser and going to

In the new insideND, you can search for different services including Gmail, Sakai, Calendar and more.
 You can open the service or application by clicking anywhere in the application box.
��

For commonly used services or applications, click on the “heart” icon to mark it as a favorite. The icon will be listed under the category “My Favorites” so you can easily access them again.


The “i” icon provides you with details about the service or application and contact information. In addition, rate the service or application by going to the “Ratings” tab once you’ve clicked on the “i” icon. 
 Though many services and applications are searchable in the new insideND, there are some still being added to the site. If you are not able to find the application you are searching for, send a message by clicking on the login drop-down menu and choosing Send Feedback.



Here are a few helpful tips to remember after the launch date:

• The URL will still be inside.nd.edu.
• All bookmarks saved in your browser for the current insideND will need to be recreated after the new insideND launches on August 1.
• If you bookmarked newinside.nd.edu, it will continue to work properly after August 1. It is not necessary to recreate it.
• Any task you mark as a favorite in the new insideND will remain as a favorite after August 1.
• If you reference information within the current insideND on any form of departmental communications for staff, faculty and students (website, email, how-to instructions, etc.), please be sure to adjust them accordingly.

Stay up to date on the progress of the new insideND and the latest demonstration sessions, or take a look at the how-to video and find answers to frequently asked questions by visiting .

Contact OIT Help Desk at 574-631-8111, , or chat online at .

Office of Information Technologies (OIT) systems engineers will perform a variety of maintenance and upgrades that will affect many IT services on Sunday, October 26, from 3 a.m. to 4 p.m. (ET).

These services that will be unavailable for most or all the maintenance period:

• Banner and all administrative applications including:
  • ODS reporting and all dependent applications (including GLEZ, PeopleEZ and Person Profile)
  • Administrative systems (INB, OnBase and other Banner-related systems)
  • Payroll and benefits information, vacation/sick days, class search, and other self-service (SSB) systems
  • Advance, RMS Housing, ID Card System and other Oracle databases and related applications
• LISTSERV (listserv.nd.edu) and academic LISTSERV (acadlist.nd.edu)
• insideND

Additionally, St. Michael’s Laundry (SPOT), RecSports Recreation Management, CodeRed RMS and KeyKeeper (Key Systems Security Asset Management) and other Microsoft SQL Server based applications will be unavailable between 3:30 and 8 a.m. SharePoint will be unavailable during this time as well.

Services NOT affected by this maintenance include:

• Internet access
• Google Apps (Gmail, Calendar, Drive)
• Cayuse
• Sakai
• VPN
• Network services (wired & wireless)
• AFS
• www.nd.edu (main ND web page)
• VoIP and Centrex telephones

Questions? Contact your departmental IT support staff, the OIT Help Desk at 574-631-8111, oithelp@nd.edu or .

Office of Information Technologies (OIT) systems engineers will perform a variety of planned maintenance activities and upgrades from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, March 30 (ET).

Most IT services will be unavailable for the entire maintenance period. Major services include:

• ���ܳٳ��Գپ������پ��Dz�—LDAP, CAS (Central Authentication Service) and Kerberos, and services that use authentication including:
  • ND Exchange email & calendar service
  • Google Apps
  • SharePoint
  • Box
  • Sakai
  • CUPC (Cisco Unified Personal Communicator) and Cisco Jabber services
  • VPN
• Banner and all administrative applications including:
  • ODS reporting and all dependent applications (including GLEZ, PeopleEZ and Person Profile)
  • Administrative systems (INB, OnBase and other Banner-related systems)
  • Payroll and benefits information, vacation/sick days, class search, and other self-service (SSB) systems
  • Advance, RMS Housing, ID Card System and other Oracle databases and related applications
• LISTSERV (listserv.nd.edu) and academic LISTSERV (acadlist.nd.edu)
• InsideND
• CorpFS
• Netfile (including web sites hosted in Netfile)
• AFS (including web sites hosted in AFS)

Services not affected by this maintenance include:

• Internet access
• Network services (wired & wireless)
• www.nd.edu (main ND web page)
• VoIP and Centrex telephones

If you have any questions, contact your departmental IT support staff or the OIT Help Desk at 574-631-8111, oithelp@nd.edu or .

The Information Security division of the University of Notre Dame’s (OIT) is hosting an celebrating National Cyber Security Awareness Month. It will be held on Wednesday (Oct. 27) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the McKenna Hall auditorium.

“This is the first time a day-long event focused on cyber security has been featured at Notre Dame,” said Ron Kraemer, Notre Dame’s vice president and chief information officer. “Cyber security requires constant vigilance from all of us. By working together, we can help ensure that our campus safeguards the information entrusted to us, and delivers high quality services to our faculty, students, staff, and friends of Notre Dame.”

A variety of technical and consumer-oriented topics will be covered throughout the day, with discussions from experts in information security, risk management, technology and mobile devices. The speakers represent a variety of prominent international and regional organizations, including Microsoft, Top Layer Security, McAfee, Notre Dame and the St. Joseph County Police Department.

Participants also will be able to meet with representatives from Sprint, Dell, Apple, Notre Dame Security Police, and the OIT Information Security division at the vendor tables outside the auditorium.

“This event has something for everyone in the community,” said David Seidl, information security team lead at Notre Dame. “Topics range from technical security talks to Internet security for parents and a how-to session on smartphone security so you can leave that session with a secure phone.”

National Cyber Security Awareness Month is a national annual effort to increase awareness and prevention of online security problems. It is spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance. The 2010 theme is “Our Shared Responsibility,” which reinforces the fact that the Internet is a shared resource and securing it is our shared responsibility.

Contact: Lenette Votava, internal marketing and communications, OIT, 574-631-6548, Lenette.Votava.3@nd.edu

The Academic Technologies (AT) team in the University of Notre Dame’s Office of Information Technologies was recognized with a second-place award in a poster contest at the AcademiX 2009 conference sponsored by Apple.

The poster, titled “Building Your Own Low-Cost Lecture Capture System,” illustrated an innovative lecture capture system that allows users to capture a lecture or live event and automatically load it into iTunes University, where audiences can easily download content to their computer, iPod or other mobile device.

The system was created by the AT team to simplify and streamline live event recording; Notre Dame currently uses the technology to capture Sunday Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart for broadcast on iTunes.

The AT team also has been working with Notre Dame’s Office of Public Affairs and Communications to create a Notre Dame channel on iTunes U, a special section of Apple’s iTunes store designated solely for colleges and universities.

“Our goal is to make our software available with an open source license,” said Paul Turner, academic technology services manager. “This way, it can be shared with other universities that may make further improvements to the system, and everyone benefits from the improved version.”

The poster was designed by Vu Nguyen, a Notre Dame graphics design student. For its second-place finish out of a total of 12 entries by regional universities attending the May AcademiX conference, the team received an Apple MacBook laptop that will be used to field test AT capture anywhere on campus.

The University of Notre Dame is a recipient of a 2009 Green Enterprise IT (GEIT) Award, presented by the Uptime Institute and co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Award winners were announced at a ceremony at Uptime Institute’s fourth annual Institute Research Symposium held in New York City last month.

The GEIT Awards honor companies and organizations that have made significant strides in creating reliable, sustainable and energy-efficient data centers. The University’s Center for Research Computing was selected as a winner in the category titled “Beyond the Data Center” for its innovation and leadership in introducing sustainability initiatives to computing and data centers.

Notre Dame’s research focuses on reusing the waste heat produced by computing equipment for industrial processes like wastewater treatment, bio-fuel production and other heat intensive applications.

“One of the biggest challenges was the relocation of this relatively low-grade heat production closer to the target application,” said Paul Brenner, lead scientist on the project and recipient of the award on Notre Dame’s behalf. “Our solution was to deploy our groups of computers in small ‘portable data centers,’ a design that is both sustainable and distributable. The small footprint of the installation allowed us to effectively locate the computers close enough to the secondary process to efficiently reuse the waste heat.”

“We congratulate and honor the University of Notre Dame for its pioneering work in reducing energy consumption in its data centers,” said Kenneth G. Brill, founder and executive director of the Uptime Institute. “The University of Notre Dame’s successful initiatives serve as a great example to its industry peers of the realistic impact and feasibility of energy efficiency initiatives.”

“Most sustainability research in information technology is focused on improving either processor, system or entire data center efficiency,” said Dewitt Latimer, chief technology officer for Notre Dame and co-principal investigator on the project. “There is virtually no research focused on efficiently capturing and reusing the waste heat generated by computing. We’ve found a second life for waste heat that reduces carbon emissions by eliminating the need to generate an equivalent amount of energy through burning fossil fuels.”

All GEIT Award winners presented case studies of their award-winning initiatives for addressing the data center energy efficiency challenge at the Institute’s symposium. Notre Dame shared lessons learned and its route to success to encourage its industry peers to be advocates of change in their own organizations. The GEIT Awards judging criteria were specifically designed to select projects with potential to serve as business case studies of the realistic impact and feasibility of energy efficiency initiatives.

The Uptime Institute is a leading independent think-tank, corporate advisor, knowledge exchange, education and professional-services provider, serving the owners and operators of the world’s largest enterprise data centers. Its primary area of expertise is the uptime availability, reliability and resiliency of enterprise computing within formal critical computing environments—computer rooms, server farms and ranches, and data centers. More information is available online at www.uptimeinstitute.org.

Contact: Lenette Votava, Office of Information Technologies, Lenette.Votava.3@nd.edu, 574-631-6548

Channel 2—Campus information
Channel 4—Russian language programming (RTN)
Channel 13—Campus events and Doppler radar
Channel 14—Foreign language news programming (SCOLA-4)
Channel 18—German language programming (forthcoming)
Channel 20—Italian language programming (RAI)
Channel 21—French language programming (TV5)
Channel 43—Eternal Word Network (EWTN)
Channel 53—NDtv student programming

WTTW, a PBS station in Chicago, has been removed from Channel 39 because of sub-par reception quality in the wake of the transition to digital broadcasting this month. Viewers can access similar programming on WNIT, the local PBS affiliate (Comcast Channel 10). New programming for Channel 39 will be determined at a future date.

Additional information on the cable programming changes and channel lineups is available at http://oit.nd.edu/cabletv. This information also can be found on campus information Channels 2 and 39.