Universidad de Chile

The Universidad de Chile is a metropolitan campus, meaning it is split into different concentrations throughout Santiago.  The law school is in the Bario Bellevista area, the dental school is in the Independencia area, the "main" campus is downtown.  The engineering and science campus, where I teach, is on Blanco Encalada, which is more or less in the southern central part of town - a couple 2 or 3 kilometers from the "main" campus.  Within this campus are areas such as physics, geology (where they track all the earthquakes...had a few more yesterday), computer science, and similar fields.  It is really quite an attractive section of campus with buildings that look similar to many buildings at universities in the US. These buildings are the geology buildings.  If you consider that the population of Chile is about 16 million (Michigan and Indiana combined), this provides quite a capacity for geology students.  Keep in mind however that Chile is a huge mining country, particularly in minerals such as copper.

The physics department also has a significant presence.  This brings up something interesting.  The bachelor's degree in computer science is a 6 year degree.  The first two years are spent primarily in math, physics, and chemistry.  There is a debate on potentially shortening the degree and eliminating some of the math, physics, and chemistry - though the old guard likely won't let that happen. A bit of the "I did it that way so everyone should" that seems to be everywhere in the world. I suspect the recent student strike, much of which was based on economics of education, had something to say about it taking 6 years to obtain a bachelor degree. Speaking as someone whose degrees include a couple in computers and one in biology that included two years of chemistry, plenty of math, and physics, I can confidently say that I used virtually none of it in my years in the computer field in business.  I certainly used - and still use - statistics and research methods, but for the most part these were graduate level aspects, not undergraduate, and it was primarily studied in my administration and computer doctoral studies.  I do use chemistry and physics in my research on recovering data from damaged media, but Tracey and Charles are helping me considerably with that at Ferris State. Writing software and needing chemistry?  I'd love to be in on that debate.  While I don't know for sure, I have a sense that many in this debate are academics and have little or no industrial experience. Plus, enrollment in those areas would crash if the requirements were taken out. Ok - enough on that.  Now for physics...

Charles - bet you'd like to spend some time in these facilities!   The engineering area (below) is quite nice as well.  There is a library housed within the building.

Some of you may have noticed the fences.  There are fences and gates around a lot of things in Chile....homes too.  In addition to the fences there are usually guarded gates or guards at the entrance of the buildings.  The various floors often have locked doors. This is the back of the engineering building.  There is a patio area and a courtyard.

The inside of the engineering building has that old charm that you often seen in brick academic buildings.

I think this next building is math, and since probably nobody reading this knows the difference, we'll just say that yes, this definitely is the math building.

Now we come to the computer science building where I teach.  It is fascinating how it resembles the technology building at Saxion University in The Netherlands where our Dutch students come from.  Inside is quite different and the Dutch building is 9 floors or so, but it is still quite similar.

There is a large addition going on, so there are construction barriers and such around the building.  This building sits nearly on top of Av. Blanca Encalada, which is three or four lanes each way.

The computer science area that I am most familiar with is on the third and fourth floor.  You come up the stairs and find the entrance locked.  You need to be buzzed in or have a card (tarjeta).

There is a small kitchen area and just like everywhere else in the world it seems some people help themselves to what is inside...

This basically says that the food in the frig is not for everyone.  If you click on the pic to zoom you'll see a few people have added comments along the lines of the food isn't for everyone?  and a primary example of the end to profit.  I remember back in the day while working at a grocery store to get myself through college that a particular cashier used to eat everyone's food in the frig.  One day we put dog food in there and sure enough, she ate that too!

The pictures above are my classroom.  We moved to a classroom on the first floor on the same side of the building as Blanco Encalada and the corner where the construction is going on.  It is very hard to talk over the noise as I don't have a loud voice like Doug.  We moved there because we needed an open network as not everyone in class is a UC student - so they don't all have network logins.

This is a picture of an extension cord.  With all the computers in the class we need to run power for the 18 students.  The outlets are very similar to Europe except that the prongs are thinner.  So a European plug is too fat to fit.  The middle hole is the ground for those of you that have wondered. There are quite a few outlets in various places in the building that are US simply because that is where a lot of the equipment comes from.

Overall it has been an enjoyable teaching experience.  Everyone in class is respectful and appears to have genuine interest in digital forensics.  I'm also going through link and visual analysis with the grad students, so they are getting a double dose.  The days really seem to be going fast.

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