Yeah some people for sure will come to Linux, and that's good. Maybe that PewDiePie video (as much as I don't like it) will have some impact too.
The biggest hump is probably video games, even I do most of my gaming on Windows. I guess Valve is making really good progress there, but I don't think we'll see mainstream Linux native game development any time soon.
Also, sounds like there are some cool people at your university!
awesome!