The CUNY Office of Computing and Information Services has developed a strategy for working with Social Science faculty who currently rely on the central large processor for analysis of research data, and who would like to move their research projects from the mainframe to a Unix-based system.

The primary component of the plan is the recent purchase of a university-wide site license for SPSS on Unix platforms. It covers all Unix platforms (e.g., SUN, RS/6000, DecAlpha), and is available to all full-time faculty at CUNY for use on university property.

In preparation for migration of research projects from the mainframe to Unix platforms, the CUNY/CIS Office of Education and Training offered a course entitled Survival in a Unix Environment in Spring and Fall 1995. The session addresses basic elementary concepts such as using the vi editor, file systems, running background jobs, and basic operating system administration. The course will be scheduled again in late Winter/early Spring. Interested faculty should send mail to REGBH@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU to inquire about the schedule for this course.

Also at the CUNY/CIS Open Systems Center is a DEC Alpha 2100, running the OSF operating system and SPSS. Faculty who would like to migrate their research work to a Unix workstation may request an account on the Alpha for a designated period of time, in order to test run their programs in a Unix environment. CUNY/CIS staff and experienced research faculty will work on a one-to-one basis or in a workshop environment with faculty registered in this migration program to develop both Unix skills and using SPSS in a Unix environment. Work may be done on-site at 57th Street in the Open Systems Center, or from local Internet-addressable workstations.

Social science researchers will be interested to know that, concurrently, a pilot project is underway to place key data, such as portions of the census, PUMS, and the GSS, on a data server that is Internet-addressable.

Although some aspects of this multi-tiered approach to support of research are in early stages of development, we are confident that a move in this direction will open up the research resources of the university to a much wider group of faculty. For further information, please contact Pat Reber, Director of Campus Liaison Services, 212-541-0922, or via electronic mail at PJRCU@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU.