OCIT staff will provide recommendations for computer configurations and
secure price quotes for hardware and software for institutional
purchases (purchases made with a CU Purchase Order with an FAS account).

To receive advice and/or a price quote, email your inquiry to
‘swhelp@columbia.edu”. For hardware purchases, include the type of
computer (laptop/desktop; laser printer; etc.), price range in your
budget, and any important requirements (e.g., speed, weight, etc.). For
software purchases, indicate the software name, version, and platform.

Occasionally OCIT may offer CUSSW projects the opportunity to
participate in a joint purchase of software to take advantage of volume
purchases. CUSSW faculty members are notified the details at least one
month in advance to the purchase.

How to purchase a computer and/or software application

Research Projects may have designated staff members who have authorization to create CU Purchase Orders with FFE (Financial Front End). If a project does not have an internal staff person, projects should email their purchase request, along with the price quote and FAS account number to charge, to Neera Nischal nn4@columbia.edu who will verify and confirm funds availability and copy Roberto Aquino ra25@columbia.edu who will then place the order.

Shared/Public/Research Computers

There are three public computers for faculty research purposes currently located in cubicles on the 7th and 8th floors (cubicles 722B, 722E, and 822D). These are designed to address intermittent research related computer needs. Each computer has standard software applications including MS Office Professional Suite, SPSS, SAS, Acrobat, Mozilla Firefox, etc. and Internet access, but no printing capabilities. See the following web page for a full list of software. The computer located in cubicle 722E also has an Epson scanner available.

We define a public computer as one that is open and accessible and is set-up as a lab computer. Therefore no documents should be saved on the computer. For maintenance and security purposes, these computers will be periodically wiped.

The policies governing the use of the computers are designed based on recommendations by the School's ARD-OSP Advisory Group, which is composed of faculty and research scientist.  Faculty members and research project staff may reserve a shared/public/research computer (cubicles 722B, 722E, and 822D) in hour increments, for up to two (2) hours each day.  Reservations can be made up to fourteen days (14) in advance.  To reserve a computer, use your Virtual EMS account to check the availability and reserve a computer. For login assistance please contact swrooms@columbia.edu.

We will monitor the computers use and modify the policies based on feedback. Email your feedback to swhelp@columbia.edu.

Secure Hard Drive Erase

If you are discarding old project/research computers, OCIT will securely erase information from the hard drives. To receive this service, you can either drop off the hard drive in room 419 or email your request to us at swhelp@columbia.edu and we will schedule a time to come by and remove the hard drive. Once the drive is securely wiped, the hard drive will be returned to the project.