Rose-Hulman students equipped for mobility and success with HP notebooks.

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind., is recognized nationwide as one of the best undergraduate colleges for students to study science, engineering and math. For six years running, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Rose-Hulman as the nation's best college among institutions offering a bachelor's or master's degree as their highest degree in engineering.

The college's progressive approach to technology emphasizes that student learning is an anytime, anywhere activity. That's why, in 1995, Rose-Hulman became one of the first colleges to require incoming freshmen to purchase a laptop computer.

In 2002, Rose-Hulman's "laptop committee" faced the challenge of identifying the laptop best suited for incoming freshmen and faculty members due for a new PC. Administrators also charged them with choosing the computer company best suited to be a long-term technology partner to the college. In 2002, HP was one of only two manufacturers to meet Rose-Hulman's requirements.

Rose-Hulman chose HP as its technology partner. In choosing HE Rose-Hulman got a partner able to complement the college's vision of anywhere, anytime learning. For the 2004-2005 academic year Rose-Hulman is using the HP Compaq Business Notebook nw8000 laptop that features Windows XP, Mobile intel Pentium M 1.7GHz processor, AT1 Mobility Fire GL T2 graphics with 128MB DDR video memory, DVD+RW optical drive, 15-inch screen, Multi-Bay technology and internal wireless 802.11 a/b/g capabilities.

And the partnership includes more than just the students. Because professors have faith in the technology and use the same computers as students, "They can really integrate computing exercises into the class materials directly, not just as an add-on," says computer science professor J.P. Mellor, who teaches a course in computer graphics. Allen Broughton, head of the mathematics department and a long-time member of Rose-Hulman's laptop committee, praises the machine's graphics capabilities. "The video graphics subsystem was very important, not just from academic requirements but because we try, to purchase a system that also satisfies students' recreational preferences. The fact that the [HP] system has the multiport wireless capability was another big factor, because we are making the institutional decision to offer wireless capabilities on campus," he adds.

Results

With the HP Compaq notebook, Rose-Hulman is accelerating its vision for implementing mobile solutions into learning. The college is able to extend to students and faculty the access to information and applications without devoting resources and campus real estate to building computer labs.

"Our goal is to involve the laptop in every aspect of the students' curriculum, not just communication, e-mail and so on," adds Allen Broughton, professor and head of the mathematics department.

Math is a subject that makes extensive use of the Compaq notebook PCs. A summer Fast Track program, for example, teaches incoming freshmen a year of calculus in five weeks.

"Any classroom, particularly those with wireless capabilities, automatically becomes a laboratory. We're to the point where the graphics quality of the student laptops is basically equivalent to relatively high-performance workstations we have in the imaging systems lab," says J. P. Mellor, computer science and software engineering professor.

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