Empowering Students as Computational Science Professionals:

Applying Mathematics and Computer Science to Important Scientific Problems

Angela Shiflet

shifletab@wofford.edu

http://www.wofford.edu/ecs/

Wofford College

Spartanburg, South Carolina

Many significant scientific research questions are interdisciplinary in nature, involving biological and/or physical sciences, mathematics, and computer science in an area called "computational science"; and much scientific investigation now involves computing as well as theory and experiment. Consequently, a critical need exists for scientists to know how to use computation in their work. With an appropriate foundation in mathematics and computer science, science majors can perform meaningful interdisciplinary research in internships, graduate school, and post-graduate positions. Internships involving computation in the sciences can expose undergraduates to many new ideas, techniques, and applications that can greatly enhance their knowledge, make their classroom education more meaningful, involve them in research on significant scientific problems, and expand their opportunities. Working at various laboratories, students have applied techniques of modeling and simulation to significant scientific problems, such as determining biochemical pathways associated with vascular disease, correlating birth defects to diet, discovering heart mechanics in order to treat cardiac disease, tracking asteroids, and developing strategies to combat Chagas’ disease. Besides considering particular student experiences and Wofford College's Emphasis in Computational Science (http://www.wofford.edu/ecs/), this talk will include coursework and internship recommendations from "Undergraduate Computational Science and Engineering Education," a report from a Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Working Group of which Dr. Shiflet is a member.

Angela Shiflet's Biographical Sketch

With a Ph.D. in mathematics, MS in computer science, and eleven summer's research at government laboratories, Angela Shiflet is closely involved with computational science, which is at the intersection of mathematics, computer science, and science. As Chair of the Computer Science Department at Wofford College and Larry Hearn McCalla Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, she was instrumental in development of one of the first undergraduate computational science programs in the United States (http://www.wofford.edu/ecs/) with the help of National Science Foundation funding (NSF Grant DUE-0087979). She and biologist Dr. George Shiflet coauthored the first textbook designed specifically for an introductory course in the computational science and engineering curriculum (Introduction to Computational Science: Modeling and Simulation for the Sciences, Princeton University Press, 2006). Besides having written six other textbooks, she has made numerous presentations and serves on the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Education Committee and a subcommittee that wrote a report on undergraduate computational science education. In recognition of her achievements, the Krell Institute presented Dr. Shiflet with their Undergraduate Computational Engineering and Sciences (UCES) 2006 award.