Computer/Lab Facilities

The GSPH operates its own computer facility housed in Hardy Memorial Tower on the SDSU campus. This customized computer laboratory, which is reserved for use by public health and CHE students, is equipped with 14 Pentium IV 2.8 GHz class computers linked to a Novell file server using a fast ethernet connection. All computers in the laboratory are connected to the Internet using 100 megabit per second fiber optics via the SDSU campus backbone network (SDSU-NET). San Diego State University is also only one of two California State University campuses granted access to the new, faster Internet II through the San Diego Supercomputer Center located in nearby La Jolla. The lab is also equipped with a laser printer operated on a pay-per-page basis. All computers have 250MB internal Zip drives, CD-RWs, and DVD players. The laboratory is also equipped with a Hewlett Packard flat-bed scanner attached to a single computer containing OmniPage Pro Version 10 optical character recognition software and image processing software.

A variety of software of special interest to public health students is available on each computer in the GSPH lab, including Microsoft Office 2000 (with Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint), Corel Office Suite, SAS, SPSS, EpiInfo, Eudora (for e-mail), Netscape, Internet Explorer, and other software running under the Windows 2000 operating system. Many public use data files are also available for students, including national survey data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and hospital discharge and utilization data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD).

In addition to the GSPH computer lab, the College of Health and Human Services operates another computer laboratory in Hardy Tower that houses 24 student workstations. These Pentium Pro 200 machines are connected to the same Local Area Network and campus backbone as the computers in the GSPH Lab. This lab has free dot matrix printers as well as paid laser printing capability. The College's lab in HT-189 is only available for scheduled classes; it has no open hours for student use.

Both the GSPH and College computer laboratories are equipped with multimedia professor workstations that include a computer integrated with projector, sound system, VCR, closed-circuit television, and video presentation equipment. In addition, the college operates a Collaborative Classroom (the "Collaboratory") in which small groups of students may gather around one of several computers in the room, each one of which can be broadcast to others workstations, projected to the entire room, or viewed by the professor. This facility was designed and built to foster learning and growth through collaboration and the sharing of ideas.

Among the computers available on the SDSU-NET is a Sun Ultra Enterprise 4000 which, under the alias of ROHAN, is used for student e-mail accounts as well as computational purposes and personal Web pages. All SDSU students are eligible for free e-mail, and early acquisition of an account is highly recommended upon matriculation. Please click on the following links to get additional information about university computer facilities or the operation of student e-mail accounts.

Because many students desire or require Internet and e-mail access from home, SDSU has made special arrangements with AzNET, a local Internet Service Provider, to provide low-cost service to SDSU students. In addition to competitive pricing and high speed service, students who sign up with AzNET are given special access to the SDSU campus, such as to Love Library's features, otherwise available only from on-campus computers.

The GSPH operates a mailing list on which announcements, job notices, Student Council minutes, and other items of interest to public health students and staff are posted. Subscription is freely available from any e-mail account.

The GSPH computer lab is normally open Monday to Friday from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM. Infrequent classes or examinations may close the lab for a few hours on occasion, but we strive to maintain an open facility during posted hours. This computer lab is not open evenings or weekends and is available only to students in the GSPH.

The SDSU campus has supervised computer laboratories available for general student use, including one with 120 Pentiums and 28 PowerMac computers in Love Library Computer Lab, and more than 25 computers in the Social Science Research Laboratory (SSRL) located in the Professional Studies and Fine Arts (PSFA) Building. These other campus labs have printing capability and extensive hours of operation, including weekends and evenings.

Bench Laboratories

The Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, presently occupies five rooms in Hardy Memorial Tower dedicated to analytical, Awet,@ laboratory functions primarily for environmental-analytical work. Hardy Tower, the old campus library, was completely remodeled in 1985 and our labs opened for use in 1986.

The analytical laboratories, with 2612 ft2 total area, are fully equipped with instrumentation suitable for a wide variety of environmental studies: Detection and quantitation of heavy metals, analysis of organic chemicals in many matrices, microbiological studies, clinical assays, and toxicological studies in systems ranging from whole animals to subcellular fractions and genetic analysis. Major instrumentation includes: Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer; Induction Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer; Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer and a dual-detector Gas Chromatograph with Purge and Trap; High Performance Liquid Chromatograph; high-speed and Ultra-Centrifuge; Cryo-Freezers; Electronic Microbalances; HEPA Filtered Class II Biological Safety Cabinet, sterilizers; ELISA Plate Readers; Epi-Fluorescent and Polarizing Microscope systems; a Gamma Counter and a Scintillation Counter; a Coulter cell counter; Infrared Gas Analyzers; and a Fluorometer.

The School has a collection of instruments for genetic studies including Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machines, electrophoresis and Western or other blot studies, and DNA damage analysis using the microscopic Comet assay. Minor equipment on hand includes an array of instructional and research spectrophotometers and microscopes, incubators, centrifuges, water baths, shakers, balances, pH/ion meters, tissue homogenizers, refrigerators/freezers, and sonic disruptors.

The school also has Industrial Hygiene equipment such as personal sampling pumps, aerosol generating and monitoring devices, sound monitors, and heat, ionizing & non-ionizing radiation monitors, and real-time dust and gas monitors.

The School operates an Inhalation Laboratory dedicated to research and teaching on this subject, primarily in Industrial Hygiene. It is dominated by a one cubic meter, stainless steel environment chamber and its supporting equipment. This chamber is equipped with organic vapor and dust generators that can be held at known concentrations for various studies such as animal exposure or protective equipment testing. The chamber currently houses a computerized robotic torso that can mimic human respiration and head motions.

Housed within the original laboratories is a walk-in environment room capable of maintaining programmed temperatures and humidities. Lastly, the Grad School also maintains a small-animal Vivarium with facilities for housing about 100 rodents at a time.