NSCU NeXTLab

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NeXTLab, a computer laboratory in the department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University (NCSU), is designed to facilitate the teaching of fundamental scientific principles to undergraduate students. NeXTLab (consisting of a network of 12 NeXT User workstations and 2 NeXTLab Servers) will utilize the latest generation of workstation technology, one that combines remarkable computer power, affordability, and a user-friendly interface. Applications in which NeXTLab's technology excels include:i) Animation (high-resolution postscript display) to show the time evolution of weather systems ozone depletion, pollution dispersion, beach erosion, etc; ii) Digital signal processing (dedicated chip) to teach turbulent time series analysis, and atmospheric remote sensing, etc; iii) Mass storage (660 MB hard disk, 256 MB read/write optical disk) a prerequisite for animation and signal processing, as well as for applications that rely on large data bases (eg., global warming, ozone depletion, numerical model output). NeXTLab's innovative programming environment allows software developers to create a graphical user-friendly interface for educational applications (generally the most time-consuming part) without any programming| Educational applications will be made available nationally and publicized through journal articles to promote the innovative use of computer workstations in teaching science in undergraduate classrooms and laboratory settings. Support from UNIDATA ( a national NSF funded program to distribute "real time" meteorological data sets) and a new building facility at NCSU makes this an opportune time to proceed with development of NeXTLab.