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Computational Science Education Programs CASC Meeting October 4,2012. Steven I. Gordon sgordon@osc.edu. Plan for the Morning. Provide an overview of computational science related programs Undergraduate programs in computational science Graduate programs in computational science
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Computational Science Education ProgramsCASC MeetingOctober 4,2012 Steven I. Gordon sgordon@osc.edu
Plan for the Morning • Provide an overview of computational science related programs • Undergraduate programs in computational science • Graduate programs in computational science • Computer science programs focused on parallel and high performance computing • Professional development programs aimed at the current workforce • Panel discussion focused on problems and prospects for developing and continuing these programs
Agenda • Model Undergraduate Programs: Dr. Steven Gordon OSC • Perspectives on Growing a Graduate Program in Computational Science: Dr. Terry Moore, UTK • Education & Training needs to fill the Missing Middle in Digital Manufacturing: Dr. Ashok Krishnamurthy, OSC • NSF/IEEE-TCPP Guidelines for an Undergraduate Core Curriculum: Dr. Sushil Prasad, Georgia State • TACC’sComprehensiveScientificComputing Curriculum: Dr. Jay Boisseau • XSEDE Education Program & Formal Computational Science Programs: Dr. Steven Gordon, OSC • Panel discussion
Overview • Challenges to creating undergraduate programs in computational science • Minor program in computational science • Associate degree program
Challenges to Creating Programs in Ohio • Computational science is interdisciplinary • Faculty workloads fixed on disciplinary responsibilities • Expertise at universities is spotty • Major time commitments are required to negotiate a new program • No standards existed that defined the field • Curriculum requirements for related fields leave little room for new electives • Change is hard
Initial Focus in Ohio • Call for faculty interest and participation • Several meetings to discuss interests and possible requirements • Consensus that an undergraduate minor program was a good place to start • Joint application and award of NSF CI-Team demonstration project
Program Requirements • Created a competency-based curriculum • Provides detailed outlines of the background and skills desired for students completing the program • Bridged the differences across disciplines • Allows for flexibility in implementation to fit the program into multiple institutional situations and majors with different backgrounds and focus areas • Competencies can be a model for other programs • http://www.rrscs.org/competencies
Minor program overview • Undergraduate minor program • 6-8 courses • Varies based on major • Faculty defined competencies for all students • Reviewed by business advisory committee • Program started in Autumn 2007 • Agreements to share students at distance, instructional modules, revenues, and teaching responsibilities
Example Competencies Simulation and Modeling • Explain the role of modeling in science and engineering • Analyze modeling and simulation in computational science • Create a conceptual model • Examine various mathematical representations of functions • Analyze issues in accuracy and precision • Understand discrete and difference-based computer models • Demonstrate computational programming utilizing a higher level language or modeling tool (e.g. Maple, MATLABTM, Mathematica, other) • Assess computational models • Build event-based models • Complete a team-based, real-world model project • Demonstrate technical communication skills
Detailed Descriptors Example exercise
Implementation • Statewide collaboration agreement • All students register through their home institution and pay local tuition • Transfer payment to universities hosting other students • Registrars exchange information in background to get student registered for remote courses and to transfer final grades • Cross registration very modest • Everyone voraciously guards their credit hours • No tradition of cross-registration with other institutions • Still a model with promise to allow shared use of scarce faculty resources
Associate Degree Program • Results of an NSF Advanced Technology Education Grant • Program is an Associates in Science with a concentration in Computational Science • Goal to encourage students to complete a four-year degree
New Courses for the Curriculum • Five new courses were designed for this new program: • Computational Science Methods • Modeling and Simulation • Introduction to Computational Biology • Introduction to Computational Chemistry • Introduction to Computational Physics • These courses and all developed materials have been shared among all schools participating in the program
Program Organization • Also competency based • http://www.rrscs.org/associate • Participating institutions • Central Ohio Technical College • Sinclair Community College • Stark State Technical College
Summary • The programs in Ohio can be used as the basis for structuring other undergraduate programs • Working through the XSEDE project, we are assisting institutions with creating related undergraduate and graduate programs