Student Computational Center in the Works

Starting later this semester, Yeshiva College will be home to a new computer center that promises to be as unique as all the other facility upgrades from this past summer. The new Computational Center for physical sciences, which will provide students access to powerful new computers, is designed to perform the complex manipulations needed in the realm of theoretical science. For those students interested in mathematical simulations, it will finally give them the tools to do them.

Late last June, Professors Gabriel Cwilich, Raji Viswanathan, and Thomas Otway received word that their grant application to the National Sciences Foundation, who they hoped would finance the new computer center, was approved. With YU willing to match the nearly $75,000 in grant funds, they set out buying both personal computers and specially designed workstations that could support the tedious mathematical manipulations they planned to perform. To date, they have almost a dozen PC's housed on Belfer's 16th floor, and expect higher-end computers to arrive in the next few weeks.

The brainchild of three professors with varied research interests, the computational center will be a unifying factor, of sorts, in the area of physical sciences. Common to all of them was their use of theoretical modeling to test their predictions. As such, they needed a way to perform their calculations. At YU, though, the computers were too slow and, sometimes, just not powerful enough. Beyond their own work, they wanted the new computers for student use.

"To apply competitively to graduate school, we must train students how to program, run simulations and analyze the results from a scientific perspective," explained Dr. Cwilich. The new center would serve as a training site for students in what is now considered an entirely separate branch of science, computational analysis.

The new computational center will focus on achieving three primary goals. First, it will allow teachers to integrate mathematical modeling into their basic courses. Dr. Cwilich plans to do this for his intermediate mechanics course, and Dr. Viswanathan plans the same for her molecular dynamics course. "Simply creating a stronger computer presence enhances the courses and allows them to work more effectively in teaching students," Dr. Cwilich explained.

Besides improving existing courses, the new computers will allow for the development of new courses that can more fully take advantage of the available computing power. In particular, courses that exploit the physical sciences' use of simulations will benefit. By exposing the link between hard sciences and computers, "we open up a world of new possibilities."

The most important benefit of the computer center is that it will permit professors to set up independent research projects for students. Dr. Cwilich emphasized the importance of such opportunities. "Working beyond a classroom setting develops skills needed in the modern scientific world, as well as skill that employers look for." Select students will be given private access to the room, allowing them to work on their own time and at their own pace. "It is this particular type of experience that graduate schools look for."

Beyond physics and chemistry majors, the center promises to open up new roads for computer science majors. Previously, computer science majors, well-trained to enter the business world, had no program to develop computer scientists. "Now we have one," explained Cwilich. Additionally, the center hopes to attract new YC faculty and is the first step towards developing a program to provide undergraduates with postdoctoral-level experience.

Simply, the new, state-of-the-art computer facility promises to be a beacon for advanced scientific work among students and faculty. Through computer modeling, real life is imitated and new avenues of research open up. For interested students, the developments are important and exciting.