terrapinsanity.com

Many workers on campus know that Facilities has been replacing lighting systems to show we are all forward-thinking, green champions of … what, the economy? Environment? Both, they say.

Okay, leave aside the sad fact that some staff workers complain of being human guinea pigs for the experiment, and suffer from headaches or other ailments that started coincident with the switchover to high-tech, cool-temperature, strobed florescent bulbs. We’re saving money … right?

Well … maybe not. A research report circulating on the net today shows that the way to boost productivity is to use higher colored lighting temperatures. If we believe the research (we tend to right now) then the pioneering campus effort to give us dimmer, cooler lighting comes with substantial drop in productivity.

Let’s see: pay a lot of cash up front, create health issues for at least some employees, gut productivity for everyone and then declare victory. Yup, must be Maryland!

Bedbug outbreak on campus … just what parents love to hear during yield season, when administrators are intent on convincing admitted students to confirm with College Park for the fall.

A nice article in today’s Post about how leading educators blend cutting edge computer technologies and engaged teams of undergraduates to solve real problems. (We commend the article to you.) Efforts like that are great visibility and will surely attract some of the best students to … Virginia Tech.

Too bad none of that happens here.

College Park is supposed to be a leader in computer science but we can’t remember the last time there was any interesting news about what they are up to. The engineers there seem to project an engaged front, even though we don’t see much of them in the local press. (The school’s splash page lists a number of projects that seem worthy of report and would trump the VA Tech apps mentioned at top, and apparently they just launched a new cyber security center. That’s cutting edge.)

What about computer science? Their undergraduate program page this morning shows a talk about “metacognition” that apparently involves geek cartoons, and their events page‘s most recent announcement is of a “casino night” – more than a year ago.

We get it. If you feel smart then you should go build cool apps at Virginia Tech, and if you feel lucky you should go play blackjack in College Park.