Modeling COVID-19 spread in small colleges

We develop an agent-based model on a network meant to capture features unique to COVID-19 spread through a small residential college. We find that a safe reopening requires strong policy from administrators combined with cautious behavior from students. Strong policy includes weekly screening tests with quick turnaround and halving the campus population. Cautious behavior from students means wearing facemasks, socializing less, and showing up for COVID-19 testing. We also find that comprehensive testing and facemasks are the most effective single interventions, building closures can lead to infection spikes in other areas depending on student behavior, and faster return of test results significantly reduces total infections.

The Economic Impact of Small Colleges on Local Economies: A Guide to Attainable Data and Best Practices

This article outlines a practical standard of university economic impact analyses for small colleges. The needs of small colleges greatly differ from those of large universities, as they are typically dependent on in-house resources to conduct economic impact analyses. These financial limitations create a need for suitable, publicly available data that can substitute for primary, costly data collection, as well as guidelines on best practices for researchers or practitioners who may not be experts in input–output methodology. The article reviews the foundations of economic impact analysis and then discusses fundamental modeling decisions. The suggested practices are illustrated using two small colleges in Ohio as case studies.

The Case for a Cost-Effective General-Purpose Computer Cluster for Small Colleges

The computational capabilities of commercial CPUs and GPUs reached a plateau but soft-ware applications are usually memory-intense tasks and they commonly need/utilize most recent hardware developments. Computer clusters are an expensive solution, although reliable and versatile, with a limited market share for small colleges. Small schools would typically rely on cloud-based systems because they are more afford-able (less expensive), manageable (no need to worry about the maintenance), and easier to implement (the burden is shifted into the datacenter). Here we provide arguments in favor of an on-campus hardware solution, which, while providing benefits for students, does not present the financial burden associated with larger and more powerful computer clus-ters. We think that instructors of engineering/computer science faculties might find this a viable and workable solution to improve the computing environment of their school without incurring the high cost of a ready-made solution. At the basis of this proposal is the acquisition of inexpensive refurbished hardware and of a type1 VMware hypervisor with a free licensing, as well as of a custom-made web plat-form to control the deployed hypervisors. VMware is a global leader in cloud infrastruc-ture and software-based solutions. In particular, the adoption of a customized "Elastic Sky X integrated" as hypervisor together with Virtual Operating Systems installed in the very same datastore, would constitute an interesting and working proof-of-concept achieving a computer cluster at a fraction of the market cost.

First Term Support for International Graduate Students Attending Small Colleges and Universities

The recruitment and retention of international students in academic institutions in the United States has become more complicated and more competitive than ever before given the current political climate and governmental policies. This article discusses some of the specific challenges international students face and what a small- to medium-sized private university has put in place to attract these students and to better prepare them for graduate level management courses starting their first term. This example introduces an 11-week foundations course along with additional resources designed to provide knowledge, instruction, and practice in skills and behaviors crucial for academic success within the United States.