Future Generation Computer Systems - Special issue: Selected papers from the workshop on education in computational sciences held at the ICCS 2002
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The emergence of computational science and engineering as an acknowledged academic area in its own right is one of the most important high-level developments of recent years in the areas represented by SIAM. Computational science and engineering has taken its place as a full partner to theory and experimentation in the set of tools that advance science and engineering. In problems areas as diverse as aircraft design, protein structure prediction, and microprocessor design, it is playing a crucial role in industrial and academic advances. This issue's Education section presents an updated version of a recent comprehensive SIAM report on computational science and engineering. The report first defines computational science and engineering and gives many examples of application and problem areas where it is important. It then turns to the topic of graduate programs in computational science and engineering, which have emerged in various forms at a number of universities in the United States and in Europe. The report discusses general characteristics of these programs and then describes six different programs in some detail to illustrate different approaches toward educating students in this emerging area. Finally, the report mentions some of the key outcomes of the first SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering, which was attended by nearly 500 people in September 2000. One of the outcomes of the conference was a recommendation to establish a new SIAM Special Interest Group (SIAG) in computational science and engineering. The primary motivation for publishing this updated report in SIAM Review is to share the emerging understanding of the field of computational science and engineering---and the academic opportunities to be trained in it---with the broad SIAM membership and readership. This report should be particularly useful to universities that are considering the formation of new academic programs in this area and offers a wealth of information and experience that will greatly facilitate the start of such a process. This report is primarily the product of a SIAM Working Group on Computational Science and Engineering Education, whose membership is given in the appendix. Special thanks are due to Professor Linda Petzold of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who chaired this working group, and to SIAM Executive Director James Crowley, who updated the report and included additional material concerning the recent SIAM conference.