UTPA Electrical Engineering

Guidelines for Lab and Building Access

Building Access


Normal Building Hours

No passes or other permissions are necessary to be in the building during regular operating hours. Regular hours vary from semester to semester but are approximately as follows: 
Monday-Friday   7:30am - 10:00pm
Saturday       10:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday         12:00pm - 6:00pm

After Hours Access

Students may remain in the building past the hours listed above, and request UTPA Police to let them into the building outside regular hours, if they have a valid Building Pass.

Eligibility: All students majoring in EE or enrolled in EE classes may request a pass through the EE department. However, the granting of a pass, and the areas of the building to which the pass is restricted, will depend on the student's academic level, employment status, and demonstrated need for after hours access.

Application : Students interested in obtaining a Building Pass should apply at the EE department office during regular business hours. There is no fee. Requests must be approved by a faculty member and then by the building supervisor. You will also need to give a reason for requesting a building pass. The areas of the building to which you have access will depend on the reasons given. The following are acceptable:

  1. Employment on research projects
  2. Senior Design
  3. Graduate student working on research projects
  4. Need for an after hours study area (access will be restricted to first floor study rooms).
  5. Student organization activities (with advisor's approval)

Regulations for Pass Holders

  1. Students must carry the pass and a valid photo ID whenever they are in the building after hours.
  2. Students must be prepared to show the pass and ID to UTPA police or security officer, and Engineering faculty and staff, upon request. Pass Holders are advised that UTPA makes periodic sweeps through the building, and that they must cooperate with officers patrolling the building.
  3. Pass Holders must not admit unauthorized persons into the building. This specifically includes fellow students who do not have a pass, or who have forgotten to bring their pass.
  4. Pass Holders must not prop open doors, defeat locking mechanisms, or in any other way make it easier for unauthorized persons to gain access to the building.
  5. Pass Holders may request UTPA police to let them into the building; however, they should realize that the police department has many other responsibilities with higher priority, and that an immediate response cannot be expected.
  6. Pass Holders should report suspicious activity observed while they are in the building.

Revoked Passes

Building passes may be revoked for any of the following reasons:
  1. Violation of any the regulations listed above
  2. Violation of any laboratory safety rules
  3. Abuse of University equipment, including but not limited to misuse of computing facilities.
  4. Leaving the EE program through graduation, lapsed enrollment, or change of major
  5. Requests to revoke passes that are received from UTPA police, regardless of reason
  6. A judgment by the dean, associate dean, department chair, sponsoring faculty, or lab technician that the holder should not be trusted with a building pass, e.g. for academic dishonesty, ongoing failure to return checked out items, technical incompetence, etc.

Electronic Keys

Students may, under limited conditions, be issued an electronic key. These keys are programmed to open particular doors within the building. The electronic locks keep a record of entries and exits to the room.

Eligibility: Normally only the following categories of students are eligible:

  1. Students enrolled in Senior Design
  2. Graduate students
  3. Students employed by the department
  4. Students employed on a research project
Application: To obtain an electronic key, you should:
  1. Contact the EE department office and fill out an electronic key request.
  2. Go to Payments and Collections with the request, and pay a $25 fee plus deposit. $20 is refundable when you return the key.
  3. Return the receipt from Payments and Collections to the EE department office.
  4. Delivery of the key and reprogramming of the doors to accept your key may take several weeks.
Available Rooms
  1. Robotics Room - only with approval from Dr. Mounir Ben Ghalia. Normally restricted to students working on robotics related projects.
  2. Microprocessors/Computing Lab - available
  3. Digital (Sophomore) Lab - available only for teaching assistants
  4. Supply Room - available
  5. Analog (Junior) Lab - no electronic lock
  6. Systems Lab - available
  7. Senior Lab - available
  8. Networking Lab - available only with approval from Dr. Sanjeev Kumar or Dr. Jae Sok Son. Normally restricted to students working on networking or fiber optics projects.
  9. Research Lab - available with approval from faculty supervising research project
  10. Computing Labs - available
Regulations
  1. Building Passes (see above) are still required for After Hours access.
  2. Electronic key holders should not use keys to admit unauthorized persons to labs
  3. Electronic key holders should not prop open doors, defeat locking mechanisms, or in any other way make it easier for unauthorized persons to gain access to labs.
  4. Electronic key holders will be held responsible for all entries to the room using their key. Lost keys should be reported immediately.
  5. Electronic keys may be revoked for any of the reasons given in the section on Building Passes above.