On Thursday, November 10th, 2011, the Computer Science Department formally opened its new student laboratory/lounge which replaced the terminal room known as the “Berry Patch”. Our students no longer needed as many department supplied workstations, but prefer to work on their own laptops. Envisioned by Prof. Jim Storer after visiting CS departments around the country, we proposed fundraising to combine Classroom 105 with Masters office 104 into a large airy space with several windows, a glass front to the Volen Lobby, and modern furniture including Aeron chairs, rolling conference tables for small group meetings, and soft chairs with laptop trays.
In 2005, Professor Mitch Cherniack co-founded a company, Vertica, with colleagues from MIT and Brown to commercialize a column-based Database technology called C-store, and the company gifted a number of stock shares to the University. Vertica grew to be a leader in “Big Data” and in 2011, Hewlett Packard acquired Vertica, which turned the stock into an actual gift.
With the gift in hand, during the summer, we engaged with University Facilities and its external contractors to realize Jim Storer’s vision for the new space, which is heavily used by both our undergraduate and masters students every day. Photos (by Johann Larusson) from the opening reception follow the break.The opening reception, catered by Dept. Administrator Myrna Fox using Russo’s of Watertown, was well attended by faculty, staff, executives from Vertica/HP, and members of the Brandeis Administration including Dean Susan Birren and SVP Nancy Winship.
