Proposal

Narrative

This proposal requests the continuation of our site license for Mathematica (MM), as well as the addition of Mathematica Online (MMO). The continuation of the existing MM license is ideal for the development of new resources and individual use. The additional request for MMO is for moving beyond individual use, adding an array of collaboration tools, cloud storage, computation credits, and is really critical for deployment in Canvas. In preparing this proposal, a survey was created to gauge usage and desire for the license. There was a modest response, but useful comments particularly from Science, Engineering, Medicine, Business, and Online and Continuing Education. There were 50 responses from faculty and course designers. Of those, there were 11 average and heavy users for research, and 18 users. The numbers were only slightly lower for teaching. A demo site was created as part of this survey. 2/3 of all respondents said that they would, or may, use MM for features related to deployment in Canvas. In comments, this came across as a previously unknown functionality, and that having seen it they would be interested in learning more. A further result of the survey and demo site was info on how many people don’t know what MM can do. While the early demos were from Physics, people outside of Physics weren’t sure how they would use it. Demos were added in biology. Business and geosciences apps are in development. I feel that anyone who sees how MM relates to their research will find it fascinating. Instructional designers are excited to use this new tool to help engage students across the university. They already have expertise in using MM and desire from outside the CESCoS to use it. A number of projects are already in development and critically need this time to build a user base. Finally, break-even for the price is reached with 50 installations on campus. This is likely met with current usage.

Facilities

No facilities upgrades will be required. FAU currently has the infrastructure in place to support this installation.

Hardware Requirements

Hardware requirements are already met by OIT for this installation. Individual users will be responsible for verifying hardware requirements on their computers.

Software Requirements

There are no additional software requirements beyond the licensing.

Personnel Costs

N/A

Other Costs

N/A

Timeline

Start of Project: (Spring 2020) Start license agreement with Wolfram Research by signing the contract. (Spring 2020) Implementation: (Summer 2020) License becomes effective, taking over from our current license. Further installation of software on individual user machines. Start + 1 yr: (Spring 2021) Pay for the second year of the license agreement. Start + 2 yr: (Spring 2022) Pay for the third year of the license agreement. Start + 30 mo: (Summer 2022) Reevaluate continuing the project and obtaining funds to maintain the license and installation.

Sustainability

If funded, the agreement would keep the license and installation current for three years. If there is a demand to continue, additional funding will be sought.

Resource Matching

N/A

Implementing Organization

Implementation and housing of the license server would be performed by OIT to assure compatibility with University infrastructure. Individual users would be responsible for the installation of their own machines.