NSF Award
1005117
Over the summers of 2010-2012, the Departments of Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry at Marshall University will jointly host twelve students for ten weeks of instruction and research in computational science. Each student will extend a carefully selected and delimited aspect of his or her mentor's research. Research fields include: 1) the characterization of beta-compounded statistical distributions; 2) computer vision with gray-scale images; 3) visualizations of general relativity; 4) potential energy surfaces for van der Waals interactions; 5) ion-molecule complexation in the zero pressure limit; and 6) the dynamics of metastable decay for the Ising model on tree-like networks. <br/><br/>In addition to performing research in a specific area, students will be instructed in practices and issues that are common to all areas of computational science. They will also receive the equivalent of a one semester hour course in ethics for scientists and engineers. Experts will be brought in to discuss computational science from the more applied perspective of industry and government service, as well as potential career trajectories. <br/><br/>This program will focus on students in the EPSCoR states of West Virginia and Kentucky, as well as students from historically black colleges and universities. Students will present the results of their research in a symposium to conclude the summer program and at a professional conference as appropriate. Students will emerge from the program with skills and confidence that can carry them into postgraduate studies, as well as an awareness of possible careers using computational science.
