LAB Computers to be replaced

[Jon855]

Hey fellow folders. I've some borgs down at a college lab with permission of course and they are due to be replaced this summer with newer system and so on. I am going to write to the lab manager and see if somehow I will be able to manage the current computers as a side project folding. And hopefully I'll be allowed to install clients on the newer computers as well.

Any suggestions as how to write up a letter like this to the lab manager and also to the department chairwoman (we're in good terms, if that helps). I'm not too sure how I'm going to word the letter but give me a couple tips and examples. I'll be sure to come back with a draft letter to be reviewed by folders like you. [Kinda of PBS moment there]

Any help would be much thanked for.

 

[ICE_9]

Any chance that these are leased computers? That will make it very unlikely that you will get to keep them.

 

[Mohonri]

In that letter, you might want to remind them of the background information, and that the computers are running F@H without any problems. "For the last x months, with your permission, the lab computers have been running F@H. This program, led by Stanford, does x, y, z....It has come to my attention that the current computers in the lab will soon be replaced. I appreciate your support for F@H and would like to continue the effort with the new lab computers. The client has not caused any problems in the x months it has been running, and the same will be true for the new machines."

 

[Jon855]

Please give me constructive feedback and so on, I ain't big fan of writing a letter of this type. Help would be much thanked for.

Without any further ado, here's the letter. Please excuse the formatting.

Chairperson X,

I would like to take a moment to tell you what I've in my mind, savoringly seeking cure for many alignments and other diseases such as parkingston and cancers. Seeking for the cure may take a long time and quite favorable, we have such technologies aviabale to us today that will speed up the process of finding the cure, however we don't know how close we are to finding a cure but we have discovered lots of new information in regards to how some proteins works.

What's a protein you may ask, for this I turn to an excerpt from the folding.stanford.edu website;

What is protein folding and how is folding linked to disease? Proteins are biology's workhorses -- its "nanomachines." Before proteins can carry out these important functions, they assemble themselves, or "fold." The process of protein folding, while critical and fundamental to virtually all of biology, in many ways remains a mystery.

Moreover, when proteins do not fold correctly (i.e. "misfold"), there can be serious consequences, including many well known diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers and cancer-related syndromes.

For the specific reasons that protein may fold incorrectly, is what I'm trying to help Stanford achieve by doing research that can be provided by computer's idle processor time. I also want to mention that I have been running the FAH (Folding at Home) program which were developed by Stanford on couple of the lab's computers with the permission of Lab Manager Name X. It has been running since mid fall of 2006. I should note that it has not caused any stability issues and I would like to point that out should there be any stability issues, the programs can be disabled quite easily. I have a proposal for you and the department if you should decide that this would be considered as an acceptable usage of the school computers. My proposal would call the rising to the fight for the cure. The real question remains, will you face this challenge and tackle it? I hope so.

The proposal would include the following;
When the lab computers gets replaced – I would like to manage the older ones devoting to folding for cure.
The newer computers that are to be replaced to assist in the search for the possible cures.
The staffs to participate in the search for cure.

I want to thank you for allowing me to voice my suggestions to you. I hope to hear from you soon.

Signed,
X

 

[Mohonri]

Good start. I would suggest, however, that you keep it brief and to the point. Give a very short background about what currently is the situation and what you propose to do, and the implications of that. Say that if they have further questions they can come to you. Usually, these are busy people, so make it as fast, straightforward, and simple as possible. The chairperson probably won't be very interested in the science behind all the simulations, so you probably don't need to explain everything to him.

In short, lay everything out short and sweet, and make the decision fast and easy.

(This from a guy who has to regularly ask his very busy boss for decisions)

 

[0ptional]

My whole campus' computers all run F@H and all the dual-core machines have the SMP client running correctly too.

Western Washington University ftw.

 

[kaleb_zero]

I agree, it should be a little shorter.. other improvements would be to check your spelling (I saw plurals where they should not be and lack-there-of where they should be), and a nice touch would also be to replace

for this I turn to an excerpt from the folding.stanford.edu website;

with.....

for this I turn to an excerpt from Stanford University's website;

and then later on give a reference to the folding@home website, if they're just skimming over the letter it's possible they may not realise you're referencing to a reputable school like Stanford.

Otherwise, I would try to keep it at about half the length or so than it is currently - but it's a good first draft indeed! I like the way you explain the cause first and then offer the big idea of how a difference could be made!

 

[fenderltd]

Maybe say F@H is a zero Security risk too. Reference other schools are doing it too