CEGE Resources

We try to place all full time graduate students an assigned desk space in the Civil Engineering (CivE) Building or at an off-site laboratory if applicable (e.g., the St. Anthony Fall Laboratory). Also, an effort is made to provide all students housed at off-site labs, who are taking courses on campus, with shared desk space in the CivE Building. New students should seek desk space through the graduate program coordinator if they want a desk. We can’t guarantee you will get a desk space but we try to place everyone if possible.

Desk/office space is given priority to Ph.D. student, then M.S. plan A students, then M.S. plan B student, then if there are any spaces left M.S. plan C students.

All full-time graduate students may receive keys to their office and key card access to the building in which the office is located. Your U-Card will serve as your key to Civil Engineering main entrance. Keys to research laboratories are also available.

Keys may be obtained by having your faculty adviser sign a Key Request Form available from the front office in CivE room 122. If you lose a key or don’t return your keys upon graduation, you or your advisor will be responsible for re-keying, this could cost $100 or more!!

All graduate students are required to do Online Safety Training to gain lab access. You need to attach the proof of training confirmation to the key request form before you are given any CivE Lab keys. The safety training can be found CEGE Lab Safety

You will only get access to the main lab you will be using.

Mailboxes for graduate students are located next to the faculty mailboxes in the department office (CivE 122). Students should check their mailbox frequently for notices and campus mail. Students whose primary office is at SAFL should have their mail sent directly there, but should check the CivE mailboxes periodically.

Please do not use the department address for personal mail.

Graduate assistants are typically appointed on a semester basis during the academic year (Fall/Spring) and for summer term. Fellowship recipients may be appointed for either a nine month academic year or 12 months. Biweekly payroll is paid every other Wednesday. Paychecks will be sent to your home address if not signed up for direct deposit. Direct deposit pay information is available online at http://hrss.umn.edu. It is highly recommended that you sign up for direct deposit.

All potential employees must comply with federal laws verifying the person's eligibility to work in the United States. An I-9 form must be completed and the departmental accountant must see all U.S. citizens in person. All international graduate students must go to the University Payroll Office (Suite 545, WBOB/West Bank Office Building, 1300 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis, MN) to verify employment. Appropriate documents must be presented prior to employment.

Information on payment of other fellowship and assistantship awards may be obtained from the departmental accountant in 125 Civil Engineering Building. A student who encounters undue delay in receiving their stipend or notices a discrepancy in the amount of the promised stipend should contact the accountant or cegepay@umn.edu.

The departmental copy machine is for University business ONLY. Personal copying can be done on campus (http://www.printing.umn.edu) or at one of the commercial copy centers located near campus.

The fax machine is to be used by faculty and staff for University business only. Graduate students who need something faxed for University business can bring it up to the front office and request that a staff member fax it for them. If the staff member determines that it is not University business, students will be referred to a nearby fax center.

Student forms are maintained outside of the graduate program coordinator's office (CivE 143) or Important Forms . The staff in the accounting office (CivE 125) will assist you with reimbursements for travel on funded research projects on research accounts, provided that your adviser has approved the travel. Mackenzie Bren at pcard-po-cse@umn.edu can assist you in ordering supplies on research accounts, provided your advisor approved the supply requests.

Supplies maintained in the department office are not for general use by graduate students. Teaching assistants (TA) should see the main office staff for supplies needed in relation to their TA responsibilities.

The department has installed phones in or near all offices used for graduate student study space. These phones are for local use only. Long distance calls can be made only on faculty or main office phones, and you must have approval from your faculty adviser for all long distance calls.

Personal long distance calls are not to be made on any University phone unless using a personal long distance calling card.

The department maintains fairly extensive machine shop facilities on the third floor of the CivE Building (next to the large structural-testing laboratory). Because of insurance limitations, graduate students are not permitted to operate equipment in the shop, but the shop staff will assist graduate students with experimental apparatus of all kinds. A budget number must be provided for all work orders. Therefore, you should discuss any proposed shop work with your adviser before proceeding. A shop is also located at SAFL as well as in many other departments across campus.

There may be times where you need to schedule a room in Civil Engineering.

To accomplish this, go to the main office CivE 122.

Rooms available for reservation are: CivE 188, CivE 202, CivE 205, and CivE 210.

Conference rooms that are available are CivE 129A, CivE 654, and CivE 780B/C.

To schedule meetings in rooms CivE 212, CivE 213 and other rooms around campus, please go to the Office if Classroom Managements website.

Classroom.umn.edu

The department maintains a wide range of computer equipment within its buildings, and there are other computing facilities available on campus. Most research laboratories are equipped with computers for equipment operation, data acquisition, data analysis, and/or modeling.

University-owned desktop/laptop computers (compatible with the Active Directory architecture) are required to be set up and administered by departmental IT staff. This can take a significant amount of time so be aware that any newly purchased computer will not be immediately available for your use.

Personally-owned desktop/laptop computers are prohibited from using wired connections (i.e. the network “Etherjacks” which are available in most rooms and offices.)

Any device may use the wireless Internet access which is available in all areas of the Civil Engineering Building, including graduate offices. It is highly recommended that you configure your device, if possible, to connect via “eduroam”. Instructions for doing so may be found at https://it.umn.edu/services-technologies/connect-internet-networks-students.

Any computer using the University network, either via wired or wireless connection, must be configured securely per the guidelines described on the Safe Computing web site at https://it.umn.edu/services-technologies/connect-internet-networks-students

Accounts

The University uses Google Apps for Education accounts. For those new to the University, a Google Mail email account will be provided for you as part of the larger suite of U of M Google Apps for Education, which includes Google Mail, Google Docs/Drive, and Google Calendar.

With your University U of M Google Apps account comes approximately 5GB of storage space as part of Google Docs/Drive. Google Docs/Drive is a powerful service for working collaboratively and for sharing large files within the University and those with non- University Google accounts. You can find out more about Google Apps here: https://it.umn.edu/services-technologies/my-account.

In addition, the University's Office of Information Technology (OIT) will provide another account, which is often referred to as an “x.500 ID” or “Internet ID” or “Internet Account.” This account will be used for authenticating to departmental and University resources and may still include email access for some at the University.

The “Internet ID” can be used to access a considerable amount of information, it is important to select a secure password and to follow best practices for safer computing. For information regarding selecting a secure password as well as other security-related information, visit the University’s Safe Computing website, safecomputing.umn.edu.

For more information regarding University accounts, check OIT's account website by going to www.oit.umn.edu/accounts/

For answers to many questions about general information technology services at the University, start browsing from www.oit.umn.edu/help/.

Departmental Instructional Computing Lab

The department maintains an instructional computing laboratory in CivE 221 for use by both graduate and undergraduate students in carrying out course assignments (not research).

The lab currently contains 25 PC's, operating under Microsoft Windows 7. The computers have standard software (e.g., Microsoft Office) along with specialty software used in civil engineering. For example, Civil3D is used to teach our AutoCAD course and MINEQL+ is used by environmental engineering courses. The laboratory is usually open for student use eight to ten hours a day, five days a week throughout the semester. The laboratory is periodically reserved for courses and can also be reserved for class tutorials on an ad hoc basis. A weekly schedule is posted on the door to CivE 221.

A black-and-white laser printer is available in the room to print to.

College Instructional Computing Lab

The College of Science and Engineering maintains a public computer lab in CivE 230 which is usable by any student with a CSE Labs account. An account is available for any student who is currently enrolled in the College. See https://cse.umn.edu/cseit/classrooms-labs.

The lab in CivE 230 contains 45 PC’s operating under Microsoft Windows 7, a laser printer. Each semester, each student in CSE Labs is given a $60 quota of free printing. This allows a user to print, without charge, 750 black and white pages, or 375 color pages, or a combination of both (where one color page is equivalent to two black and white pages).

CSE Labs operates 11 other public labs; see https://cse.umn.edu/cseit/classrooms-labs / for complete information. These are the labs that have color printers and scanners for your use:

Keller 4-250 – color printer and scanner and open 24/7 with U-card access

ME 308 – color printer and scanner Lind 150 – color printer and scanner

ME 302 – Open 24/7 with U-card access.