Computers for Undergraduate Ecology and Population Biology Laboratories

生物系正在向所有级别的生态学课程的学生提供与IBM兼容的微型计算机。系内以前供学生使用的计算机硬件和软件不足之处正在得到补充，包括：用于在实地和实验室收集和分析数据的膝上型微型计算机；为数据提供存储空间的外部硬盘驱动器；专业级统计软件包；点阵打印机；绘图仪；以及视频投影系统。计算机产生最大直接影响的课程是“计算机在生物学”和“生态学”，这两门课程都是中级课程，以及“人口生物学”，这是一门高级研讨会课程，其中包括一个独立的研究项目。其他受益于这些设备的课程包括“生物学入门”、“湖沼学”和面向研究的高级课程。该系发展的计算机专业知识，加上大学对计算的坚定承诺，证明了开发一门计算机在其中发挥重要作用的生物课程是合理的。接受资助的机构正在将NSF的奖励与从非联邦来源获得的同等金额相匹配。

The Department of Biology is making IBM-compatible microcomputers available to its students at all levels of the Ecology curriculum. The inadequate computer hardware and software within the department previously available for student use is being augmented by laptop microcomputers to collect and analysis data both in the field and in the laboratory; external hard drives to provide storage space for data; professional-level statistical software packages; dot-matrix printers; a plotter; and a video projection system. The courses in which computers are having the greatest immediate impact are "Computers in Biology" and "Ecology", both of which are intermediate-level courses, and "Population Biology", an advanced-level seminar course that includes an independent research project. Other courses that benefit from the equipment include "Introductory Biology", "Limnology", and advanced-level research oriented courses. The computer expertise developing in the department, together with a strong university commitment to computing, justify the development of a biology curriculum in which computers play an important role. The grantee institution is matching the NSF award with an equal sum obtained from non-Federal sources.