About Us
Teaching Infrastructure
The Department of Computer Science and Engineering gives students access to a wide variety of software and hardware development environments in three dedicated departmental laboratory facilities and by remote access to equipment in the department data center. Students have access to University and College laboratory facilities and computing resources. Student also have access to selected commercial cloud computing resources.
LABORATORY FACILITIES
Laboratory facilities dedicated to departmental undergraduate students are described here.
Departmental Laboratory Facilities
ENB 214 Computer Engineering Laboratory
The Computer Engineering Teaching Lab is 1074 square feet with 40 seats arranged along either side of four long tables. It includes 4 ADA seats in the middle of the room.
Equipment Includes:
- 32 dedicated workspaces fitted with 32 dell OptiPlex All-in-One running Windows 10
- 16 Matrix MPS-3206 regulated DC power supplies (32V/6A)
- 16 BK Precision 4011a 5MHz function generators
- 28 Digilent Analog Discovery 2 100 MS/s USB oscilloscopes, each with a custom in-house-built USB 3D printed case.
Classes that use this lab includes:
- Computer Logic Design Lab
- Computer System Design Lab
- Computer Architecture Lab
- CMOS-VLSI Design Lab
Available 24/7 to students registered in the Networks Lab course. Lab Access Request can be sent via https://cseit-usf.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/user/login?destination=portals
ENB 216 Software and Cybersecurity Laboratory
The equipment in Software and Cybersecurity Teaching Laboratory is 2148 square feet with 60 seats, including 5 ADA seats. The lab is separated into two sections: a groupwork area with three tables of 7 seats, one of which is an ADA seat, and a TA station. The other is a lecture area with 39 seats, four of which are ADA accessible.
Equipment Includes:
60 enterprise-grade Dell OptiPlex Micro 7010 each come with a Quadcore i5 and 16 GB of memory and NVMe Solid State Drives, configured with Parrot OS for cybersecurity, privacy, and development.
The back-end server and network infrastructure located in the department data center is comprised of several Dell servers, Cisco and Palo Alto firewalls, and a storage array, all of which provide a virtual sandboxed environment – effectively a “cyber range” – for cybersecurity instructional use.
Classes that use this lab include:
- Hands-on Cybersecurity
- Operating Systems
- Compilers
Available 24/7 to students registered in the Networks Lab course. Lab Access Request can be sent via https://cseit-usf.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/user/login?destination=portals
NEC 300 Networks Teaching Laboratory
The Networks Lab 847 square feet with 32 seats divided among six networking clusters.
Equipment Includes:
- 12 networking stations, distributed in 6 clusters
- Each station has a dedicated 16U rack with 2 Cisco 2800 Series routers and 2 Cisco 2960 Series switches with a surge protector and power distribution unit
Classes that use this lab include:
- Computer Networks Lab for IT
Available 24/7 to students registered in the Networks Lab course. Lab Access Request can be sent via https://cseit-usf.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/user/login?destination=portals
College and University Laboratory Facilities
DFX Lab
The Design for X Laboratory provides a collaborative, fun environment for undergraduate students at the University of South Florida to safely pursue meaningful multidisciplinary engineering projects that expand their creative design and project management skills.
Equipment includes:
- AnyCubic Photon Mono X (6K)
- LaserCutter2
- Flashforge 3
- FlashForge Finder 3
- LasrCutter1
- HassMill
- HaasLathe
- Laguna- Swift CNC Router
- LPKF ProtoMap S63
- Makerbot Z-18
- Mentor 2 Laser Cutter
- Rebel EMP 235ic Welding Machine
- Techtronix Oscilloscope
- Various Conventional Tools
COMPUTING RESOURCES
Computing resources dedicated to both undergraduate and graduate departmental students are described here.
Department Data Center Computing Resources
Units listed: CPU in GHz/cores, Memory in GB, Storage in TB.
| Name | Model | Role | Qty | CPU | Mem | Store |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palo Alto PA-820 | PA-820 | Primary firewall | 1 | NA | NA | NA |
| Cisco ASA FW | ASA 5516-X | Secondary firewall | 1 | NA | NA | NA |
| Synology NAS | RS2416RP+ | General data storage | 1 | NA | NA | 80 |
| Dell PowerEdge | R740 | vSphere servers (VMs) | 3 | NA | NA | NA |
| Dell Precision | 5820 | Management and CTF | 1 | 3.9/4 | 16 | NA |
| Nimble Flash array | HF40 | VM data storage | 1 | NA | NA | 21 |
| HP Proliant servers | DL360 G10 | VSphere servers (VMs) | 2 | 2.3/20 | 768 | NA |
University Computing Resources
Campus-wide computing facilities available to students and faculty at USF include a number of dedicated public computing labs and a large cluster of Unix-based computers. The public computing labs feature Windows PCs with access to a broad range of applications including a range of Adobe and Microsoft products, Mathematica, Matlab, and many others. Students also have access to the USF Application Gateway "apps.usf.edu" which allows them to use over 40 different software applications for their personal and academic use on their own laptops via a Citrix server connection, by logging in with their USF NetID. The cluster of Unix-based computers, called CIRCE, is maintained by USF Research Computing. USF Research Computing actively maintains over 100 scientific software packages. This cluster can be used by any faculty member or student. USF Research Computing maintains a wiki page describing available, services, software, and hardware.
Commercial Cloud Computing Resources
Computing resources are also provided via subscription-paid commercial cloud services. This includes Hack-the-Box cloud resources used to support and enhance the experiential learning activities for CIS 4200 Penetration Testing, COP4931 Capture The Flag, and CIS 4622 Hands-on Cybersecurity. Hack the Box provides cybersecurity training and upskilling resources and has been recently selected by Forester among the top three companies in this category.
Very few selected electives use dedicated research labs for instructional purposes. This includes CDA 4621 Control of Mobile Robotics and COP 4520 Programming on Massively Parallel System. A few elective classes may also uses additional subscription-based commercial cloud services.
Miscellaneous Resources and Equipment
The department also maintains the following equipment for educational use
- 50 AnvylT Spartan-6 FPGA Development Boards for Computer System Design (CDA 4203)
- 30 ZedBoard ZynqT-7000 Development Boards for hardware elective courses
- 20 Dell 7020 workstation dedicated to the TAs for the department
- 1 DJI Inspire 1 drone
- 2 NAO robots for robotics elective courses
- Epson Interactive Projector installed in the main conference room
GUIDANCE FOR STUDENTS
Students receive guidance on laboratory equipment used in their classes. In courses with laboratory sessions, students are given hands-on instruction in the use of relevant laboratory equipment in the first laboratory session.
MAINTENANCE AND UPGRADING OF FACILITIES
The department tech support group is responsible for maintaining and upgrading all equipment in the Computer Engineering Lab, Software and Systems Lab, and in the department data center. Students and faculty can directly contact (or e-mail) the tech support group to report broken equipment or receive assistance in installing and configuring new equipment.