Computer Software

Site licenses allow Columbia/CUIMC affiliates to download and utilize several applications for free, or at a substantially reduced price. Licenses are managed by several groups on campus, including CUIT, CUIMC IT, and the University Libraries. Links to licenses relevant to the VP&S community are aggregated below.

Group Software Licenses

Columbia University affiliates can download desktop versions of several programs. These group licenses are managed by CUIT (the main campus IT group). Available software includes:

  • Microsoft Windows
  • Microsoft Office
  • Symantec Antivirus
  • FTP, SSH
  • Other tools

Additionally, CUIMC affiliates have access to Office 365, which includes the ability to download Office 365 ProPlus applications. Office 365 is managed by CUIMC IT.

Columbia University affiliates can download several commonly-used applications at a discounted academic rate, including:

  • Adobe Creative Cloud

The Columbia University libraries provide free downloads of several applications to manage references and citations:

  • Endnote
  • Mendeley
  • Zotero

Free access to electronic lab notebook software for research use is available through a partnership between the Executive Vice President for Research, CUIT, and the libraries.

  • LabArchives

The Columbia University libraries provide free site licenses for:

  • ChemDraw
  • CrystalMaker
  • Schrodinger and Pymol

The Microbiology & Immunology Flow Cytometry facility provides a discounted site license for analysis software. Sign up via iLab for:

  • Flowjo

The Columbia Center for Translational Immunology provides access to an alternative flow cytometry analysis program:

  • FCS Express

CUIT Research Computing Services provides discounted licenses for molecular visualization and scientific graphing software. Email [email protected] to discuss purchasing:

  • SnapGene
  • GraphPad Prism

BioRender is a web-based editor that makes it easy to create figures for use in presentations and grant applications. There is an institutional license for VP&S affiliates.

CUIT and CUIMC IT provide discounted access to several statistical and mathematical tools:

  • Mathematica
  • Matlab
  • SAS
  • SPSS
  • Stata

CUIT provides a secure, remotely accessible, virtual desktop to store and collaboratively analyze PII and PHI data. This service has been certified by CUIMC IT Security for use with PHI data, and is available for a yearly fee.

Columbia also has a license to use Globus to manage, transfer, and share large research datasets.

CUIMC provides access to a third-party online survey platform:

  • Qualtrics Online Survey Platform

A group license to use Zoom for video conferencing has been provided by CUIT. Both personal and shared-use accounts are available. Basic accounts can be used free of charge, while Pro accounts offering additional features can be obtained for a small yearly fee.

Useful Web Services

Although Columbia does not provide group licenses for the applications listed below, they have been recommended by faculty members for researchers:

  • Meta: Provides personalized feeds of new papers related to individual research interests. Free; provided by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.