The Museum of Geology operates a small cluster of computers in its Electronic Laboratory/Classroom in the O'Harra Building. Two PCs , an iMac with scanner, and printers are networked into the Campus intranet and externally to Internet II to serve on campus needs of our paleontology students. The Museum uses ReDiscovery ® as its major data base in curation with a machine in the collections room. Each staff member has a state-of-the-art PC on his or her desk.
The School of Mines campus supports 20 presentation classrooms and 4 distance learning classrooms at this time. The Electronic Laboratory/Classroom will soon be configured into a distance learning mode for use in importing and exporting synchronous distance learning course and for videoconferencing for research and thesis presentations. Asynchronous courses are supported by system-wide adoption of WebCT ®.
A modern GIS lab is located in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering with 25 work stations equipped with ArcInfo ®.
The Museum of Geology uses emerging technologies to image specimens for documentation, publication, and presentation. Techniques range from flat bed scanning to full blown CT scanning (processing done off campus). Three dimensional CT scanning is being investigated for validation of specimens and for rapid laser replication of specimens. Students are studying the biomechanics of dinosaur limbs and 3D applications to systematics and functional morphology in partnership with colleagues at SDSMT''s CAMP (Center of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing and Production).
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