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College of Science & Engineering Alumni Newsletter

Spring 1999
 

SUN Microsystems Donates New Lab to Computer Science Department

The Computer Science Department is the proud recipient of a new Java Station laboratory donated by SUN Microsystems. Not only did SUN donate all the equipment for the lab, through subcontractors, SUN arranged for the entire refurbishing of the facility. Computer Science alumni will recall the old SCI 254 lab - a converted Biology laboratory complete with gas jets, faucets and lab benches. Computer equipment was placed on the tables at odd angles to avoid the lab fixtures and drawers in the benches were pulled open to support keyboards!

Well, no longer. Mr. Terry Keeley, Vice President and Chief Engineer for SUN Microsystems arranged for the construction and donation of the new lab, complete with dropped ceiling, carpet, computer tables, printers, high speed networking and 25 Java workstations. The SUN Lab is being used by the Department in courses throughout the program that deal with Graphical User Interfaces and Java programming.

The process of the donation of the lab began as an idea of a student, Dathan Pattishall. Dathan was so appreciative of his education in the program that he took it upon himself to pitch the idea of a donation to his supervisors at SUN. Dathan joined San Francisco State as a member of the Alliance for Minority Participation, a program to develop the skills of minority students who demonstrate a high aptitude for math and science, earned a lab position in the Department where he honed his skills, and now works for SUN - a true success story. SUN Microsystems employs many of SFSU and CSE alumni.
 

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Updated by Lannie Nguyen-Tang on August 3rd, 2000