WSU Gets Donation Of High Technology

Washington State University has more education technology to brag about - $1.2 million worth donated by Hewlett-Packard Company.

WSU President Sam Smith on Friday called the collection of new computers, scanners, software and printers a major addition to the school’s educational tool chest.

The equipment includes about 110 computers for engineering, architecture and construction management classes at WSU’s campuses in Pullman, Spokane, Tri-Cities and Vancouver.

Networking software will help students connect to faculty at other campuses, allowing more interactive discussion across the state, said Robert Altenkirch, dean of WSU’s Civil Engineering and Architecture school.

In Pullman, the money will provide powerful computers to help students test-manufacture prototype products.

The big improvement will be computers that use three-dimensional graphics modeling, instead of the more common two-dimensional systems.

At WSU Spokane, 20 new computers that will be used by students in the interdisciplinary design institute.

The Hewlett-Packard grant is one of five the company is awarding this year. The grant requires WSU to provide a 20 percent match of its value.

, DataTimes