GOVERNMENT

Canada now has its first school dedicated to graduate study in the rapidly advancing area of computational engineering and science. The McMaster School of Computational Engineering and Science was officially launched in Hamilton, Ontario today. It brings together 50 faculty from engineering, science, business and health science to collaboratively conduct research and advance education involving simulation, modeling and optimization. Study in this area is helping to advance understanding of a wide range of issues and opportunities from pandemics, to weather patterns, to improving automobile safety, to the design of computer chips. "More and more countries are investing in the expertise and resources to lead in this rapidly growing field," said Mo Elbestawi, Dean, Faculty of Engineering at McMaster University. "If we want to keep pace with our peers in the rest of the world, it is essential that we expand our expertise in this area as quickly as possible. It has a direct bearing on the research conducted in this country as well as our competitiveness and productivity." The McMaster School of Computational Engineering and Science is an equal partnership between the Faculties of Engineering and Science, with outreach to the School of Business and the Faculty of Health Science. This unique structure encourages and supports multidisciplinary research and educational programs. Graduate programs will be offered at the Master's, Ph.D. and post-doctoral levels, and focus on three major research areas: Computational Physical Sciences; Computational Optimization, Design and Control; and Computational Biosciences. "Computational engineering and science is an increasingly important method of scientific investigation, along with scientific theory and physical experimentation," said John Capone, Dean, Faculty of Science, McMaster University. "Advances in computation and computing power have opened up this new avenue of investigation and research. Areas that were previously not accessible due to physical limitations or costs are now being explored and advancing discovery and innovation that impacts our daily lives." Computational engineering and science utilizes mathematics, particularly the development of algorithms, and the increasing processing power of today's computer networks to simulate, model and optimize solutions to various problems, and design new products and services. The School will utilize the processing power of SHARCNET, the most powerful supercomputer in Canada, which is comprised of a "cluster of clusters" of high-performance computers linked by advanced fibre optics. "The computational power now available to process vast amounts of data is allowing us to ask more complex questions resulting in many of today's discoveries and advancements," said Tamás Terlaky, Director of the new School of Computational Engineering and Science and Professor of Computing and Software at McMaster. "The focus of the new school is to work collaboratively with industry, government and academia to provide specialized knowledge and education that can be applied to further investigation as well as to day-to-day issues and opportunities." Programs at the Masters (M.Eng. and M.Sc. with coursework and project, as well as M.A.Sc. and M.Sc. with thesis), Ph.D. and postdoctoral levels will be of an interdisciplinary nature and include both core courses and module-based topic courses. Graduates of the School will be employed by engineering design, information technology, financial, biotechnological industries, governments, and academic institutions. "Successfully educating people in this field requires the removal of artificial barriers that exist between academic disciplines," said Bradd Hart, Associate Director, School of Computational Engineering and Science, and Chair, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, McMaster University. "This is one of the unique aspects of the culture at McMaster and the School was developed on that premise. The faculty who are involved with the school represent a wide range of subject areas." McMaster University is a research-intensive university that fosters a culture of innovation and a commitment to discovery and learning in teaching, research and scholarship. Based in Hamilton, Canada, the University has a student population of more than 23,000, and an alumni population of more than 115,000 in 128 countries.