A new National Science Foundation report led by a University of Michigan professor underscores the importance of computer modeling and simulation in advancing science and engineering, and finds that the U.S. no longer leads in all aspects of this discipline.

The report, “International Assessment of Simulation-Based Engineering and Science,” was written by a 9-member panel of researchers from leading U.S. universities. The panel was chaired by Sharon Glotzer, a U-M professor of Chemical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Physics, and Applied Physics.

“This report is important for several reasons,” Glotzer said. “First and foremost, it documents that simulation is ubiquitous and a critical enabling tool in science and engineering throughout the world, as well as a discipline in its own right. Second, it demonstrates that the U.S. does not lead in certain areas of simulation-based engineering and science that are critical for technological innovation. And even in those areas in which the U.S. leads today, that leadership position is at risk. This threatens long-term economic competitiveness and the security, health and prosperity of the nation.”

The panel found that computer simulation is more pervasive than ever before, and it is transforming science and engineering. It’s changing how diseases are treated and how surgery is performed. It’s altering how materials are designed, developed and used in all industrial sectors. It’s helping in recovery of untapped oil resources and in the discovery of new energy sources, among other advances.

But at the same time, the world of computer simulation has become flat, the report states, meaning computers are so accessible now, anyone can do simulation and modeling, and from anywhere.

“It is therefore critical that the U.S. exploit new computer architectures, especially those developed here, before those architectures become ubiquitous,” Glotzer said.

The report also found that universities here and abroad are not adequately preparing today's students with the breadth, depth, and skills to become tomorrow's computational scientists and engineers.

The University of Michigan is actively addressing these educational needs. In 2008, the university established a new associate vice president for research cyberinfrastructure position in the Office of the Vice President for Research, and appointed Daniel Atkins, the W.K. Kellogg Professor of Community Information in the School of Information to the position. Atkins’ office works to build strategic cyberinfrastructure and programs across campus, including those that will support research in simulation-based science and engineering.

The university and the College of Engineering are also leading the development of a new Virtual School of Computational Science and Engineering under the Great Lakes Consortium for Petascale Computation as part of the National Science Foundation-funded Blue Waters project at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Glotzer is the founding director of the virtual school.

“Our immediate goal is to define a modern computational science and engineering curriculum and develop and share courses and learning materials across the universities within the Big 10 and beyond,” Glotzer said.

More broadly, the new report identifies three avenues the nation can take to reclaim its edge in simulation-based science and engineering. The U.S. can create industry-driven partnerships with universities and national laboratories; create new mechanisms for supporting long-term development of simulation-based engineering and science both as a discipline and as an enabling tool; and develop a new approach to educating and training the next generation of researchers in high performance computing.

The study findings are based on face-to-face meetings with scientists, engineers, business representatives, and government officials at 57 sites in Europe and East Asia. Bibliometric analyses and discussions with other U.S. experts augmented the information gathering.

"Such detail-based findings provided new insights and also confirmed the value of computer modeling in the advancement of science and technology," say Phil Westmoreland and Clark Cooper, program directors at NSF and two of the study sponsors. "Importantly, this study reaffirms that advances in modeling and simulation can aid economic growth and improve quality of life."

Glotzer is co-chairing a workshop at the National Academy of Sciences this week that brings together stakeholders in simulation-based engineering and science from academia, government laboratories and agencies, and industry to highlight why simulation is crucial to the future of U.S. science and engineering; what strategic investments are needed; and how these investments can be most productive. Also participating in the workshop are Brian Athey, U-M professor of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology in the Medical School, who is briefing the participants on big data and data complexity, and Eric Michielssen, U-M professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, who is leading a session on the challenges of algorithm development for simulation.

The report was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, NASA and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology.

For more information:

• Sharon Glotzer
• International Assessment of Simulation-Based Engineering and Science report