Calkins is in charge of maintenance and expansion for Andrews' computers, including the Sigma 9 systems manufactured by Xerox Corporation. NASA uses the same type of system to process images received from their Dynamic Explorer satellite, said Calkins.

Calkins learned of the computer breakdown just before attending a conference in Washington, D.C. He wanted to know what had gone wrong, in order to safeguard Andrews' system from similar extended downtime.

Before he looked at the computer, Calkins talked with the president [Mike James] of the company that does maintenance for the NASA system [Western]. Then he talked to the engineer working on the system. "I asked questions and discovered some things that still hadn't been tried," he said, "so I tried them." By doing this, he traced down the problem and suggested the correct repair.

Since their problem would not show up under normal maintenance procedures, Calkins said, it took an extensive knowledge of both the software and hardware to isolate the problem. "You can't learn how everything fits together in classrooms or by doing only day-to-day maintenance," said Calkins. "It must be learned by trying to expand features and develop new capabilities."

For the past eight years, Calkins said, Andrews has been doing their own computer maintenance. In addition, they have been upgrading with low-cost, used equipment. According to Calkins, Andrews plans to gradually revamp the entire system. Last February, the university's board of trustees approved an arrangement to develop software for Telefile, a computer company headquartered in Irvine, Calif., in exchange for discounts on computer hardware.