First things first

The various processes you need to complete and accounts you will want to set up before starting your research in the lab.

Access and Safety

• Request a key for the lab, Advanced Engineering Research Building, room 214.

• Request card access for the office, Advanced Engineering Research Building, room 215.

• Request non-business hours building access, AER 125 - Main Entry Lobby.

• Register your computer for access to the WVU Wired network.

• Complete lab safety training, which is required by the University and must be updated annually. As of 2022, this is the process to complete the course:

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2022 EHS Hazard Communication, Laboratory Safety, and Hazardous Waste 2022 Instructions.pdf

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Process for completing lab safety training

Systems and Accounts

• Ask Nick to invite you to the lab Slack channel.

• Ask Nick to invite you to the lab Google Drive.

• To use the 3D printers, ask Nick to set up a Markforged account for you. If you set up your own, you will be unable to print with our lab's 3D printers.

  • To schedule a time to use the 3D printers, ask Nick to add you to the calendar.

  • If you want to print or manufacture something that we can't make in the lab, set up an iLab account so you can use WVU's Innovation Hub.

• If you would like to write and collaborate on papers using LaTeX, create an Overleaf account.

Technical Software

• Install Matlab on your work computer by visiting Mathworks.com.

  • If you do not already have a Mathworks account linked to your WVU SSO account, you can visit this site and gain access to WVU's license.

  • If you already have a Mathworks account linked to your WVU SSO account, you can simply log in to Mathworks.com and download whatever software you would like.

• Install 3D CAD software on your work computer:

  • To obtain a student license for Solidworks, send an email to [e-mail], with a brief message asking for a license for academic purposes. Feel free to CC [e-mail] on the message.

  • WVU has a system for automatically granting free licenses for Autodesk.

• Install the Arduino IDE on your work computer.

  • See our page on how to set up the openCM libraries within Arduino.

• Install the Notepad++ text editor on your work computer, especially if you plan to collect large data files.

  • It is also handy for viewing XML files and for writing code that will be compiled by a different program (e.g., I write Arduino classes in C++ within Notepad, then the Arduino IDE compiles them for me).

• Install the Dynamixel Wizard on your work computer if you plan to work with Dynamixel servos.

Presentation and Organizational Software

• Install Microsoft Office on your work computer.

• Install Adobe Creative Cloud (e.g., Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere Pro).

• Install a reference manager on your work computer:

  • Mendeley (Note: The best feature of Mendeley is its MS Word plugin for creating bibliographies, but it is currently not permitted by WVU ITS. We are trying to obtain an exception).

  • Zotero.

• Other software information from Statler's ITS division.