5. Facilities and General Office Procedures

While general office procedures may seem trivial in comparison with the major traumas of graduate studies, following a schedule on these procedures enables the department and University to serve you properly and leave you free to worry about those major traumas!! Barbara Bugosh and Vicki Finney are your contacts for financial matters. For office space, facility details, and all other graduate procedures and issues see Vicki. See Appendix 1 for a list of relevant departmental contacts.

Upon arrival at EPP you will be given two department keys.  One will open the door to the EPP 129 suite (this key will also open the door to the fax and mail rooms, the Baker Hall conference room, and the Baker Hall 131 suite); the other will open the door to your office in Hamburg Hall A012, the computer cluster and graduate student lounge (also located in A012), and the offices in Hamburg Hall A020.  Please do not lose these keys because the security of the EPP offices would be compromised.  If keys are lost, there is a $10 per key replacement cost.  Julie Mull handles dispensing and coordinating department keys.  The front door and the Baker Hall conference room door should be locked after normal working hours (8 A.M. to 5 P.M.) and also ALL weekend.  It is the responsibility of the LAST person in the office to close and lock all doors and to turn off the lights.

The Baker Hall sink/kitchen area has a microwave oven, toaster oven, a refrigerator, and an ice machine for the use of EPP faculty, staff and graduate students.  It is the responsibility of all EPP members to keep this area neat and clean. Please do not keep food in the refrigerator longer than 5 days (it is cleaned biweekly) and do not cook any food with a strong odor, especially during normal work hours.  Do not keep any food in the ice machine.  When cooking, please cover food to prevent splattering.  Wipe up any splatters or spills immediately.  The office staff are not "mothers" and the department head has a nasty habit of throwing out dirty things he finds in the sink.  So please wash and put away your cup and/or utensils, any found lying in the sink will be thrown away.

The graduate offices are in Baker Hall 128C; Porter Hall126B; Hamburg Hall A012, and Hamburg Hall A020.   Each student will have one desk or desk module with several drawers, chair and half of a bookcase or equivalent.  No other furniture is allowed in the offices.  Please keep the office areas clean and in good condition.  Graduate Student Offices are to be kept quiet at all times so that students can pursue their studies and research work.  Talking and disruptions should be kept to a minimum.  If you wish to work on homework together, do not do so in the offices -- please feel free to reserve our conference rooms or project room for that purpose.     The regulations for the graduate student lounge and office space are found in Appendix 7.

New students will be assigned office space by Vicki.  For all others we will continue to adhere to our 'seniority system' for office selection, which is as spots become available Vicki will send email to all students giving them a chance to bid on the spots.  The senior students who bid will be allowed to select first, then next in seniority will select, and so on.  Seniority is determined first by date of entry (beginning with first academic semester attended), then proposal date, then a lottery by class for those equal in seniority.   Part-time and special student seniority will be determined by level of program completion.

The graduate student lounge is located in Hamburg Hall A012.  There is a microwave, refrigerator, and cleaning supplies.  It is the responsibility of everyone who uses the lounge and appliances to clean after themselves.  If you spill something, please clean it right away. Do not walk away and expect someone else to clean after you. 

Your name will automatically be placed on a refrigerator cleaning list in Hamburg Hall A012 UNLESS you let Vicki know that you never plan to use that refrigerator.  For more on this and all of the office rules, see Appendix 7.

You must dial 9 to get an outside line.  Each graduate student's office has at least one telephone.  These phones are to be used primarily for research-related calls. 

The phones in the graduate student offices are restricted and in order to make any call (other than in the local calling area or on campus) you must use an access code.  Each graduate student will receive a personal telephone access code from Julie.  To use the access code you must first dial 122, enter the access code, dial 9 (to get an outside line), dial 1 (if the number is not in the local area) and then the number you are calling.  Again, that is:

122-access code-9-the number you are calling (including area code and a 1 if you are calling long distance).

When the phone bill arrives each month, you will receive a copy of the calls you made for the month so that you can mark those calls that should be charged to research. You should return this promptly.  Please mark all calls.  If you are being paid from a federally funded research grant (NSF, DOE, NASA, NOAA) you can only charge long distance calls that are directly related to the research grant.  If they are non-federally funded research, mark your name and the appropriate account number.  If  they are personal, mark with your initials.  Based on this information you will receive a bill each month.  If you have no funding but need to make some long distance calls regarding your research, please see Barbara.  We expect payment for telephone and other personal bills within 30 days after receipt of the bill.  There are a variety of telephone features available on CMU phones such as call transfer, call forwarding and auto call back.  Please see the Faculty/Staff Directory for instructions.  The department has a fax machine.  If you find faxes at the machine, please put them in the recipient's mailbox.   The fax number is 412/268-3757.

Every person in EPP receives their personal copy numbers from Julie Mull.  These numbers are to be used when copying on the EPP copy machines.  Students will have the numbers set up on both the department copy machines located in Baker Hall 129 and in Hamburg Hall A020.

If you do not have research or fellowship funding, you will receive an account number and $50 per academic semester for copying.  This amounts to approximately 1000 copies.  If you are funded through research grant, you will be given a number that will charge directly to the grant.   Your personal account will be for personal copying only and you will be billed monthly.   Please remember that you MUST NOT charge any non-research copying to any research grant. 

PDF files can be made on the main office copier.  Please see the receptionist for directions on creating PDF’s.

Occasionally the copier will jam or have a problem.  If you are unable to correct  the problem, please DO NOT force it.  See the receptionist regarding the machine in Baker Hall or send her an email if the problem is in Hamburg Hall.

The receptionist handles the incoming and outgoing mail, behind her desk are boxes for outgoing and campus mail.  All mail should either have a research number on it, or marked "personal".   If you have a research number, write it in the upper right hand corner.   No mail will go out without a number written on it.  Mail must be in the basket by 8:00 A.M. to be picked up by the post office.  Any mail that goes in the basket during the day is not guaranteed to go out until 8:00 A.M. the following day.   Campus mail can be placed in the box behind her desk or mailed in any of the campus mail boxes.

Engineering and Public Policy has several machines that can be used by students. The overhead/data projector and speaker phone are kept in the Baker Hall conference room (data projector and speaker phone are in the credenza). There is also a laptop computer that can be reserved for a maximum of two days. You can reserve the equipment via the EPP receptionist.

All of the following machines can be used for printing:

• Legend –  Located in the EPP mailroom. 
• Inscription – This Laser printer is in the back of the EPP main office.
• Choice – This machine is located in the copier room in Hamburg A020.
• Grad – This machine is located in Hamburg Hall A012 in the computer cluster.

To Add any of the above EPP printers to your computer see:

http://wiki.ece.cmu.edu/index.php/Printing_in_the_Department_of_Engineering_and_ Public_Policy

Computer/network registration information can be found ehre for wired and wireless connections:

http://www.cmu.edu/computing/doc/network/netreg/new-transfer.html

and here for wireless connections using authbridge:

http://www.cmu.edu/computing/network/wire/wireless.html

Please email gripe@ece.cmu.edu  if you have any questions about adding a printer to your computer.

The following printing procedures are to be adhered to when using Legend and Inscription:

1.  Large printing jobs (25 + pages) should not be done between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.  Large jobs tie-up the laser writer and makes it difficult for the rest of the people who have printing jobs.

2.  Before printing a large job, make sure you check on the paperload in the printer before you start.  If the paper runs out, there may be a long gap before it is noticed and other jobs get backed up.

By the time you arrive, you should have received from Vicki your new computing user ID that will allow you access to the Andrew Network System.  The password will be the first 8 digits of your student ID number.  It is recommended that you change your password soon after your initial login. If you have any questions on computing or getting your computer set up on the Andrew Network you should email Carnegie Mellon Computing Services at advisor@andrew.cmu.edu or call x8-help (412/268-4357).

The department's computer cluster is located in Hamburg Hall A012.  If there is a problem with the machine please email gripe@ece.cmu.edu.  This is the email for our tech support in Electrical and Computer Engineering.  Please indicate which machine has the problem.  Please note, they are NOT to be contacted for a problem with your personal computer.  If you have a problem with your personal machine you will need to contact Carnegie Mellon Computing Services at: advisor@andrew.cmu.edu or by calling x8-help (412/268-4357)

Student Health Services provides all information on health insurance.  On their website you will find the current rates and plans available.  Carnegie Mellon adheres to a "hard waiver" policy.  This means that all students will automatically be charged for basic health insurance coverage at the beginning of each academic year (this year the cost is about $900/year).  In order to opt out of this basic coverage, the student must provide legitimate proof (hard waiver) to the Hub that they have other health insurance coverage by the 10th day of class and the charge will be removed.

Carnegie Mellon does not provide campus housing for Graduate Students.  The Housing Office does, however, provide an extensive list of apartment and house rentals for students looking for housing.  You are welcome to visit the housing office, it is in Morewood Gardens E-101, or on the web at http://www.housing.cmu.edu.  Also, available at housing are detailed maps of Pittsburgh streets, day care facilities and schools, campus furniture sales, and several booklets on the city of Pittsburgh.

Graduate Student Transition Loans are a one-time loan available to first-year supported students, to help with expenses they may incur until they receive their first stipend check.  Vicki will have loan forms available at the EPP orientation if you wish to apply.  Checks usually take a week to process, and will be available at the Hub.  They are often referred to 'refund checks' at the Hub.  Eligible students are allowed to borrow up to 75% of their gross taxable stipend amount.  The amount of this loan will be paid back automatically from your stipend in four monthly installments in the months of September through December.   In addition, a one-time $25 loan processing fee will be deducted from the total amount of the loan.

Emergency Student Loans are available from the Carnegie Mellon Office of the Dean of Student Affairs.  These loans are available to any enrolled student who may need help with academic supplies, food, medicine or other unexpected needs.  Students will need to apply directly with Student Affairs, located in Warner Hall 301, phone x8-2075 (off-campus phone 412/268-2075).

For more information on these loans, please refer to the Carnegie Mellon Graduate Student Handbook.

Practicing good hygiene matters not only to your office mates but also to prospective employers.  First impressions go a long way in the interview process, and poor body odor and bad breath can be very strong deterrents.  Poor hygiene gives an impression of being sloppy – not taking the time to keep oneself clean.  While you may not think anyone notices, people do.  So please, make it a habit to shower regularly and practice overall good hygiene.

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