alex.polvi.net

Chris Bell encouraged me to send a letter to Dean Adams about open source in College of engineering. So here it is…

Hi Alex,

Thanks for making a clear pitch for open source in COE. I’ll discuss
with college leadership and get back to you.

Best,

Ron Adams

—–Original Message—–
From: Alex Polvi
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 9:07 PM
To: Adams, Ronald Lynn
Cc: Bell, Chris A.; test display name
Subject: Engineering and Open Source

Dean Adams,

This is an informal proposal for incorporating open source software into
the engineering community on campus. From my research within the EECS
department, open source tools are not being utilized to their max
potential in the classroom. I propose that College of Engineering
develop a platform for learning based around free and open source
software.

There are a many reasons why this is strategically, and educationally
very important.

1) The interest from students is overwhelming. An example of this was
the Oregon State Linux Users Group InstallFest near the beginning of the
first term. An InstallFest is where members of the community, mostly
students, bring their computer to get support installing Linux. Our
event started at 4:00pm, and within 15min the lab we had on the second
floor of Dearborn was full. We had a line out the door. Below are photos
(if you are interested). Interestingly enough, a lot of the people who
attended were freshman engineering students with their laptops.

We are having another InstallFest, this time in the Valley Library (3rd
floor, Willamette room), from 4pm-8pm on Friday Jan 28th. It would be
wonderful if you and your peers could attend!

2) Industry seeks experience in open source. There are many examples of
companies that look for open source on the resume. One company that
successfully adapted open source into a commercial product is Tripwire.
Tripwire originally used an open source tool to build its business, and
now sells a commercial product while offering an open source version.
IBM also has invested over 1 billion dollars into open source solutions.
If either of those companies saw open source on the resume, it would put
that student leagues above the other applicants. There are many other
companies, not just these, that would greatly desire students to have
experience in the open source world.

To achieve experience with open source, we need it in the classroom as a
formal track of computer science. Beavers could graduate with a degree
in “Computer Science with an emphasis in Open Source Development”.

Such a program would instantly create an opportunity for OSU to become
leaders in this field. PSU currently has a single class for such topics,
they have the vision, they are just not thinking big enough. When I
mentioned this idea to the professor who taught the open source
classes, he went bonkers. His curriculum is currently available and
would
be perfect for an introductory course.

This is truly a way to impact our college and the students that utilize
its resources. This program will also line up very nicely with the top
25 campaign — by offering something that no other engineering school is.

The greatest thing that this program will bring is talent. Many of the
finest developers are looking for a place to get a CS degree, right now
there is no program out there that is aimed at such talents.

I could go on and on about all the wonderful reasons why we need to do
this. Could we get together to talk about this in person? Hopefully you
will be able to make it to the InstallFest on Jan 28th!

Quick recap (I know that was a lot of information)
* Open Source Development Program
* Students want it
* Industry wants it
* An opportunity to become leaders in CS education
* Will undoubtedly attract talent
* Next InstallFest is Jan 28th

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

-Alex

PS: Installfest photo to illustrate how many people we had:

http://lug.oregonstate.edu/gallery/installfest/pict0042

–
Alex Polvi :: student-at-large
Oregon State University

http://alex.polvi.net/

This entry was posted on Friday, January 21st, 2005 at 8:19 am and is filed under OSLUG, School.