diff --git a/examples/opf/experiments/multistep/base/permutations_simple_3.py b/examples/opf/experiments/multistep/base/permutations_simple_3.py
index 2ce99589a6..6dae642b29 100644
--- a/examples/opf/experiments/multistep/base/permutations_simple_3.py
+++ b/examples/opf/experiments/multistep/base/permutations_simple_3.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 '~/nupic/eng/lib/python2.6/site-packages/nupic/frameworks/opf/expGenerator/ExpGenerator.pyc'
 """
 
+from nupic import NUPIC_ROOT
 from nupic.swarming.permutationhelpers import *
 
 # The name of the field being predicted.  Any allowed permutation MUST contain
@@ -58,7 +59,7 @@
   'predictedField': 'field2',
   'predictionSteps': [1,3],
   
-  'dataSource': 'file://%s' % (os.path.join(os.environ['NUPIC'], 'examples', 'opf', 
+  'dataSource': 'file://%s' % (os.path.join(NUPIC_ROOT, 'examples', 'opf', 
                     'experiments', 'multistep', 'datasets', 'simple_3.csv')),
 
   '__field2_encoder' : PermuteEncoder(fieldName='field2',
diff --git a/nupic/__init__.py b/nupic/__init__.py
index 44cddc96fb..c383810ec5 100644
--- a/nupic/__init__.py
+++ b/nupic/__init__.py
@@ -19,3 +19,7 @@
 # http://numenta.org/licenses/
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 __version__ = "0.3.0.dev0"
+
+import os
+NUPIC_ROOT = os.environ.get('NUPIC', os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)))
+
diff --git a/nupic/support/__init__.py b/nupic/support/__init__.py
index ce8e94f4ba..24e668a48f 100644
--- a/nupic/support/__init__.py
+++ b/nupic/support/__init__.py
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@
 from pkg_resources import resource_string, resource_filename
 
 from configuration import Configuration
+from nupic import NUPIC_ROOT
 from nupic.support.fshelpers import makeDirectoryFromAbsolutePath
 
 
@@ -409,7 +410,7 @@ def initLogging(verbose=False, console='stdout', consoleLevel='DEBUG'):
   # If NTA_LOG_DIR is not defined, set it now. This is used by the logging
   #   config file to set the path for the log files
   if 'NTA_LOG_DIR' not in os.environ:
-    os.environ['NTA_LOG_DIR'] = os.path.join(os.environ['NUPIC'], 'logs')
+    os.environ['NTA_LOG_DIR'] = os.path.join(NUPIC_ROOT, '../logs')
   if not os.path.exists(os.environ['NTA_LOG_DIR']):
     makeDirectoryFromAbsolutePath(os.path.abspath(os.environ['NTA_LOG_DIR']))
 
diff --git a/tests/integration/nupic/opf/expgenerator_test.py b/tests/integration/nupic/opf/expgenerator_test.py
index 531cee139a..4b39ce1d50 100755
--- a/tests/integration/nupic/opf/expgenerator_test.py
+++ b/tests/integration/nupic/opf/expgenerator_test.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 from pkg_resources import resource_filename
 import unittest2 as unittest
 
+from nupic import NUPIC_ROOT
 from nupic.data import dictutils
 from nupic.database.ClientJobsDAO import ClientJobsDAO
 from nupic.support import aggregationDivide
@@ -118,7 +119,7 @@ def setUp(self):
     global g_myEnv
     if not g_myEnv:
       # Setup environment
-      params = type('obj', (object,), {'installDir' : os.environ['NUPIC']})
+      params = type('obj', (object,), {'installDir' : NUPIC_ROOT})
       g_myEnv = MyTestEnvironment(params)
 
 
@@ -1947,7 +1948,7 @@ def _getTestList():
   # Our custom options (that don't get passed to unittest):
   customOptions = ['--installDir', '--verbosity', '--logLevel']
   parser.add_option(
-    "--installDir", dest="installDir", default=os.environ['NUPIC'],
+    "--installDir", dest="installDir", default=NUPIC_ROOT,
     help="Path to the NTA install directory [default: %default].")
 
   parser.add_option("--verbosity", default=0, type="int",
@@ -1961,7 +1962,7 @@ def _getTestList():
 
   # The following are put here to document what is accepted by the unittest
   #  module - we don't actually use them in this code bas.
-  parser.add_option("--verbose", dest="verbose", default=os.environ['NUPIC'],
+  parser.add_option("--verbose", dest="verbose", default=NUPIC_ROOT,
         help="Verbose output")
   parser.add_option("--quiet", dest="quiet", default=None,
         help="Minimal output")
diff --git a/tests/integration/nupic/opf/opf_description_template_test/opf_description_template_test.py b/tests/integration/nupic/opf/opf_description_template_test/opf_description_template_test.py
index 56b46a1bb2..35130e8d42 100755
--- a/tests/integration/nupic/opf/opf_description_template_test/opf_description_template_test.py
+++ b/tests/integration/nupic/opf/opf_description_template_test/opf_description_template_test.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 import sys
 import unittest2 as unittest
 
+from nupic import NUPIC_ROOT
 from nupic.frameworks.opf.opfhelpers import (
   loadExperimentDescriptionScriptFromDir,
   getExperimentDescriptionInterfaceFromModule
@@ -47,9 +48,7 @@ class MyTestEnvironment(object):
 
   def __init__(self):
 
-    nupicDir = os.environ['NUPIC']
-
-    examplesDir = os.path.join(nupicDir, "examples")
+    examplesDir = os.path.join(NUPIC_ROOT, "examples")
 
     _debugOut("examplesDir=<%s>" % (examplesDir,))
 
@@ -58,7 +57,7 @@ def __init__(self):
 
     # This is where we find OPF binaries (e.g., run_opf_experiment.py, etc.)
     # In the autobuild, it is a read-only directory
-    self.__opfBinDir = os.path.join(nupicDir, "scripts")
+    self.__opfBinDir = os.path.join(NUPIC_ROOT, "scripts")
     assert os.path.exists(self.__opfBinDir), \
            "%s is not present in filesystem" % self.__opfBinDir
     _debugOut("self.__opfBinDir=<%s>" % self.__opfBinDir)
diff --git a/tests/integration/nupic/opf/opf_experiment_results_test.py b/tests/integration/nupic/opf/opf_experiment_results_test.py
index 54ca9c398d..bb605bae8d 100755
--- a/tests/integration/nupic/opf/opf_experiment_results_test.py
+++ b/tests/integration/nupic/opf/opf_experiment_results_test.py
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import time
 import unittest2 as unittest
 
+from nupic import NUPIC_ROOT
 from nupic.data.file_record_stream import FileRecordStream
 
 
@@ -55,9 +56,7 @@ def testExperimentResults(self):
     examples/prediction directory in the install tree (same as predictionDir)
 
     """
-    nupicDir = os.environ['NUPIC']
-
-    opfDir = os.path.join(nupicDir, "examples", "opf")
+    opfDir = os.path.join(NUPIC_ROOT, "examples", "opf")
 
     testDir = opfDir
 
@@ -95,7 +94,7 @@ def testExperimentResults(self):
     # Run from the test directory so that we can find our experiments
     os.chdir(testDir)
 
-    runExperiment = os.path.join(nupicDir, 'scripts',  'run_opf_experiment.py')
+    runExperiment = os.path.join(NUPIC_ROOT, 'scripts',  'run_opf_experiment.py')
 
     # A list of experiments to run.  Valid attributes:
     #   experimentDir - Required, path to the experiment directory containing
diff --git a/tests/integration/nupic/opf/opf_experiments_test.py b/tests/integration/nupic/opf/opf_experiments_test.py
index b0f8525ff9..89ba735a84 100755
--- a/tests/integration/nupic/opf/opf_experiments_test.py
+++ b/tests/integration/nupic/opf/opf_experiments_test.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 import traceback
 import unittest2 as unittest
 
+from nupic import NUPIC_ROOT
 from nupic.frameworks.opf.experiment_runner import (
     runExperiment, initExperimentPrng)
 
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@
 
 # Globals
 EXCLUDED_EXPERIMENTS = [] # none for now
-PREDICTION_DIR = os.path.join(os.environ['NUPIC'], 'examples', 'opf')
+PREDICTION_DIR = os.path.join(NUPIC_ROOT, 'examples', 'opf')
 RUN_ALL_ITERATIONS = False
 
 
diff --git a/tests/swarming/nupic/swarming/swarming_test.py b/tests/swarming/nupic/swarming/swarming_test.py
index 759f361fd7..749f3e632d 100755
--- a/tests/swarming/nupic/swarming/swarming_test.py
+++ b/tests/swarming/nupic/swarming/swarming_test.py
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 
 from optparse import OptionParser
 
+from nupic import NUPIC_ROOT
 from nupic.database.ClientJobsDAO import ClientJobsDAO
 from nupic.support import configuration, initLogging
 from nupic.support.unittesthelpers.testcasebase import (unittest,
@@ -255,7 +256,7 @@ def _generateHSJobParams(self,
 
       # Form the stream definition
       if dataPath is None:
-        dataPath = os.path.join(os.environ['NUPIC'], 'examples', 'prediction',
+        dataPath = os.path.join(NUPIC_ROOT, 'examples', 'prediction',
                         'data', 'extra', 'qa', "hotgym", "qa_hotgym.csv")
       streamDef = dict(
         version = 1,
diff --git a/tests/unit/nupic/support/configuration_test.py b/tests/unit/nupic/support/configuration_test.py
index 074fad6966..0bb392a21a 100755
--- a/tests/unit/nupic/support/configuration_test.py
+++ b/tests/unit/nupic/support/configuration_test.py
@@ -36,11 +36,10 @@
     from xml.etree.ElementTree import ParseError
 except ImportError:
     from xml.parsers.expat import ExpatError as ParseError
-import nupic
-
-import nupic.support.configuration_base as configuration
 
+from nupic import NUPIC_ROOT
 
+import nupic.support.configuration_base as configuration
 
 class ConfigurationTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
@@ -519,7 +518,7 @@ def testGetConfigPathsForNone(
     configuration.Configuration._configPaths = None  # pylint: disable=W0212
     result = configuration.Configuration.getConfigPaths()
     self.assertTrue(isinstance(result, list))
-    self.assertEqual(result, [os.path.join(os.environ['NUPIC'],
+    self.assertEqual(result, [os.path.join(NUPIC_ROOT,
                                            'config', 'default')])
 
   @patch.object(configuration.Configuration, '_configPaths',
diff --git a/tests/unit/nupic/support/custom_configuration_test.py b/tests/unit/nupic/support/custom_configuration_test.py
index a8fd111fc1..406cdf5020 100755
--- a/tests/unit/nupic/support/custom_configuration_test.py
+++ b/tests/unit/nupic/support/custom_configuration_test.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 except ImportError:
     from xml.parsers.expat import ExpatError as ParseError
 
-import nupic
+from nupic import NUPIC_ROOT
 
 import nupic.support.configuration_custom as configuration
 
@@ -803,7 +803,7 @@ def testGetConfigPathsForNone(
     configuration.Configuration._configPaths = None  # pylint: disable=W0212
     result = configuration.Configuration.getConfigPaths()
     self.assertTrue(isinstance(result, list))
-    self.assertEqual(result, [os.path.join(os.environ['NUPIC'],
+    self.assertEqual(result, [os.path.join(NUPIC_ROOT,
                                            'config', 'default')])
 
   @patch.object(configuration.Configuration, '_configPaths',